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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26196433">The Blackened</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/multidimensionalcon/pseuds/multidimensionalcon'>multidimensionalcon</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Byakuya Togami - Freeform, Canon-Typical Violence, Chihiro Fujisaki - Freeform, F/F, I'll add more tags later, Internal Conflict, M/M, Minor Asahina Aoi/Ogami Sakura, Minor Naegi Makoto/Togami Byakuya, Multi, One-Sided Fukawa Toko/Togami Byakuya, Swearing, Violence, aoi asahina - Freeform, chihiro is dead, hifumi yamada - Freeform, makoto naegi - Freeform, no beta we die like men, sakura oogami - Freeform, spoilers duh, starts at the end of trial 2, touko fukawa - Freeform, yasuhiro hagakure - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:48:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>27,805</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26196433</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/multidimensionalcon/pseuds/multidimensionalcon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Ishimaru's begging to be executed in Oowada's place worked?</p><p>This is a THH au where Kiyotaka was executed ch2 instead of Mondo, and my take on what the rest of the game (and the post-game) would be like.</p><p>Typically updates whenever I feel like it!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Asahina Aoi/Ogami Sakura, Ishimaru Kiyotaka/Oowada Mondo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>247</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>422</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Sacrifice</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I have a Tumblr now! In case you wanna talk to me about Danganronpa (I've played dr1 and sdr2, but I currently don't have a way to play v3), ask about shit I'm writing, or wanna see any of my fanart, come bother me at https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com ! I need more friends who are into Danganronpa haha</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The worst part of watching your best friend die in front of you is the blood. </p><p>Mondo Oowada had had to watch helplessly as his friend Kiyotaka Ishimaru- his best friend, his brother- was dragged away from him by Monokuma. What had hurt the most was the fact that Kiyotaka hadn’t even done anything wrong. </p><p>“Please- Please, Monokuma! Let him go! Take me instead!” Kiyotaka had screamed at the small monochromatic bear after hearing of Mondo’s new status as this trial’s ‘blackened’, which meant that as soon as Monokuma hit the punishment button in front of him… Mondo would be subjected to another horrible punishment like the one they had watched Leon befall just a few days earlier. </p><p>“Whaaaaaat?” Monokuma cocked his head to the side like a cute small puppy. But Monokuma was anything but cute. “You? But you haven’t done anything.” </p><p>“Please! Please, Monokuma! I have to do this!” Kiyotaka had gotten down on his hands and knees begging. </p><p>“...OO, this hurts to watch!” Monokuma cackled maniacally. “The Ultimate Moral Compass, the guy with a stick constantly up his ass yelling at everyone else, reduced to grovelling? It’s enough to make a grown man cry!” He considered something for a few moments before snapping his fingers (paws? If anything, they were more like mittens). “I’ll allow it, just this once. And only because nobody’s ever asked me this before!” </p><p>As soon as the words left Monokuma’s mouth, a silver collar shot down from the ceiling and attached itself to Kiyotaka’s neck- an exact replica of the scene that they had watched happen at the last trial. </p><p>“No!” Aoi shrieked. “You can’t let this happen! Taka didn’t even kill anyone!!” She looked like she was close to bursting into tears. </p><p>It didn’t matter. What she thought- it wasn’t important. The little graphic of a pixelated Monokuma dragging a pixelated Kiyotaka to his doom had already started playing, and in real life the collar was beginning to drag the flesh-and-blood Kiyotaka down the dark hallway to the execution room. Kiyotaka’s uniform was crumpled and creased, something he would have never allowed under normal circumstances. Bits and pieces of it were coming undone, the fabric not being used to things grabbing at it the way the collar and chain were. Mondo couldn’t move. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t breathe. He had been the one who had killed Chihiro Fujisaki. He should be the one being punished, not Kiyotaka. But it didn’t matter. None of it mattered. </p><p>The remaining ten living ‘unblackened’ students were forced to watch as Kiyotaka was thrust onto a flat moving platform and his left arm was locked in some sort of moving mechanism that continually moved his forearm back and forth in a manner that looked like he was waving at the onlookers to his execution. His chest and hips were also locked onto a post with more chains, forcing him to stand up ramrod straight. Kiyotaka scrambled to free himself, but since his dominant hand was locked into the machine, it was fruitless. A large banner dropped from the ceiling that read “Prime Minister Kiyotaka Ishimaru's Inaugural Parade” in beautiful calligraphy. Kiyotaka loved calligraphy… If he wasn’t about to die, it would have been something that he would have really enjoyed. The platform beneath his feet began to move as Kiyotaka was paraded throughout the streets of a faux city as cardboard cutouts of people ‘cheered’ for him. Confetti fell from the ceiling, and there were celebratory posters everywhere. This execution didn’t seem too bad… what on earth was going on?</p><p>To everyone watching, what happened next felt like it occurred in slow motion. Monokuma had disappeared from his seat in the trial room and had entered the execution. At first, Kiyotaka didn’t see what was about to happen until Hifumi screamed to get his attention, pointing up at the fake buildings. Kiyotaka snapped his head around to look at his classmates, and that’s when he finally saw it- Monokuma had popped out from the top of the tallest fake skyscraper, pulled out a sniper rifle, and was taking aim directly at the center of Kiyotaka’s chest. </p><p>Kiyotaka’s ruby eyes contracted in fear, and he barely had time to squeeze out the word “No-” before the bullet exploded into his heart. Pink blood gushed from his torso, staining his normally-pristine white uniform a horrible magenta. It took a few seconds of sputtering and choking, but eventually Kiyotaka slumped forward dead. Hot blood had continued to pool by his polished boots, but it slowly began to spill over the edge of the platform as the parade kept going, Kiyotaka’s cooling corpse forced to continually wave at everyone. </p><p>Finally, the morbid procession came to an end, the car with Kiyotaka’s body disappearing from view. </p><p>“WOW!” Monokuma appeared once more in the chair he occupied during trials, a look of pure adrenaline on his face. “THAT WAS EXTREME!” </p><p>“...You’re a monster.” Kyoko looked at him with a face filled with utter disgust before stalking off back into the elevator. The trial was officially over. </p><p>Mondo didn’t understand how everyone could just get back in the elevator like nothing had just happened. He was a killer. He was a murderer! He was the one who was supposed to be executed, not Kiyotaka!<br/>
“Oh, and before I forget-” Monokuma said something, and then everyone who had one’s e-handbooks pinged. Since Mondo’s handbook was still not available from the sauna fiasco, Sakura walked over to him and showed him what hers said. </p><p>There had been an update to the rules. “Rule #11: From now on, nobody is allowed to stand in for the guilty party.” </p><p>“I know I already bent Rule #8 once, but now I’m ensuring it’ll never happen again. Just in case any of you had any delusions of pulling an Ishimaru.” Monokuma snorted, coining a new phrase. Mondo saw red in anger, and was about to pull back a fist and seriously break Rule #5 (Violence against headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited) before someone’s hand on his shoulder stopped him. It was once again Sakura. </p><p>“Don't do that. If you do, he will have died for nothing.” She said, pulling him towards the gleaming elevator. The last thing he saw before leaving the courtroom was Monokuma’s triumphant face, knowing that any punishment he might have actually done to Mondo would have never been as effective as what had just happened to him. </p><p>The rest of the day was a blur. Nobody wanted to talk to Mondo, and he didn’t blame them- would you want to talk to someone who had killed one of your closest friends and gotten away with it? He was left completely alone until the night fell, when he was finally approached by Makoto Naegi. </p><p>“Hey, uh… Mondo… I uh, thought you might want this.” He held out a thick ribbon of scarlet fabric. It took a few moments before Mondo recognized it for what it was- it was Kiyotaka’s hall monitor armband. He took it from Makoto, lightly fingering the embroidered edges and running his hand over the kanji wrapped around it. </p><p>“...Thank you…” Mondo managed to croak out. He slipped the armband in his jacket’s pocket. He would put it on, but Kiyotaka was much more lithe than he was and he didn’t want to risk ripping the only surviving memento that existed of his best friend. </p><p>“If there’s anything else I can do, uh, lemme know…” Makoto backed away slowly before turning around and running away. Mondo didn’t blame him- he wouldn’t want to interact with a known killer either. </p><p>As he thought those words, the reality of the situation- what he had really done- finally hit him. It wasn’t just between him and Daiya anymore. He had killed two- no, three people with his actions. </p><p>Daiya, Chihiro, and now Kiyotaka.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Mondo, Alone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Life without Chihiro and Kiyotaka is... very lonely.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Chapter 2!! Finally!! I've actually been writing these chapters at a pretty good pace- of course, I'm two chapters in and we haven't even hit the DR1 Ch3 motive yet. So, we've got a long way to go until the end!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next few days went on in a horribly normal fashion.</p>
<p>The first morning after the trial, Mondo had gotten up at Monokuma’s announcement as usual. In a tired stupor, he had gotten dressed (Someone had also slid a new handbook with his name on it under the door. He slipped it in his coat pocket too.), did his hair, brushed his teeth, and finished his usual morning routine before heading to the dining hall to meet up with the others. Once he got there, it seemed… emptier than normal. </p>
<p>“Oh, uh…” Aoi shifted in her seat. “Hey, Mondo. Looks like it’s just the four of us, huh?” She said, gesturing to herself, Sakura sitting next to her, and Makoto on the other side of the table. </p>
<p>“What? Where is everyone? Shouldn’t they all be here for the fuckin’ morning meeting?” Mondo replied, frustrated. </p>
<p>“...” Aoi looked up at Sakura, not knowing what to say “But I thought we were going to wait until-”.</p>
<p>“It’s fine, Hina. I’ll tell him.” Makoto stepped in. “Since Kiyotaka’s not here to make them come- well, they probably won’t come.”</p>
<p>It finally hit Mondo once Makoto said that. “Oh. Oh my god.” How much had they relied on Kiyotaka’s guidance to keep them all together? How much had they taken him for granted? He slumped down in the seat next to Makoto, his head in his hands. It was taking everything in him to keep from crying.</p>
<p>Nobody spoke for a long time after that. </p>
<p>When Mondo looked up again, everyone had left. How long ago, he didn’t know. A cursory glance at the clock on the wall told him it was close to ten. Had he really been sitting there wallowing in self-pity for three hours? </p>
<p>Mondo pulled Kiyotaka’s armband out of his jacket pocket. It was weird- he felt… safer, somehow, holding it. Like Kiyotaka was there with him, making sure he was ok. </p>
<p>Nobody talked to Mondo for the next two days. They all seemed to be discussing something as a small, hushed group, clamming up whenever he approached. </p>
<p>“Tch. Whatever! Keep your secrets!” He roared at them, stomping off. While his heart might have been angry, his mind truly didn’t blame them. He knew he would do the same thing in their position. </p>
<p>Mondo spent his free time wandering aimlessly throughout the new areas of the school for a while. He didn’t care much for the third floor- art had never really been his thing, he was useless when it came to physics, and a rec room’s only good if you’ve got someone to spend time with. That last thought brought his mind back to the place it had frequented so often- Kiyotaka Ishimaru. Would he have liked the physics room? He seemed bright enough, like the kind of guy who would actually ENJOY a science class. Mondo chuckled absent-mindedly, remembering how upset Kiyotaka was once he found out that they wouldn’t be attending classes while trapped in the school. Seriously- thrust into the middle of a fucked up game where it’s kill or be killed, and the thing that had made him the most angry was that they wouldn’t be reading any books in the meantime.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Mondo had no idea if Kiyotaka would have liked the art or rec rooms, and for some reason that bothered him. Kiyotaka was supposed to be his best friend- his soul brother! He and Kiyotaka had told each other things that Mondo had thought he’d never tell anyone! But still, no amount of nude male bonding would excuse the fact that Mondo simply hadn’t had enough time with Kiyotaka to know all of his eccentricities. </p>
<p>What was his favorite color? What was his favorite food? Did he wear boxers or briefs? (Ok, that one Mondo did know. It was plain white briefs.) Hell, he didn’t even know what Kiyotaka’s dorm room looked like. He and Taka had only ever hung out in Mondo’s own dorm, Taka reveling over all the fancy motorcycle pennants Mondo had collected. (Mondo didn’t actually know HOW his collection of pennants had made its way into Hope’s Peak, seeing as he vividly remembered leaving them at home… but he tucked that thought away to be dealt with later.) These were things he’d never had the chance to find out, but god damn it he was going to!</p>
<p>And that’s how Mondo Oowada found himself standing in front of his dead best friend’s dorm room with a crowbar from the storage room. </p>
<p>“Showtime.” He gritted his teeth. First things first- he tried to turn the doorknob. There was no give. Mondo had expected this; of course Kiyotaka had locked his door before going to the class trial. Meaning the only person who would have the keys would be…</p>
<p>“Monokuma.” He said out loud without really meaning to. It didn’t matter. Simply saying the bear’s name had summoned him in all of his two-toned glory. </p>
<p>“Oooooohhhhh? What’s this?” Monokuma cried out, spotting Mondo with the crowbar in hand. “Surely you’re not planning on committing another bludgeoning murder, are you? This time, there’s nothing stopping me from actually using the extreme punishment that I had built for you! Plus, I kinda want pancakes…” </p>
<p>“Pancakes? What the hell are you talking about, you Toy Story reject?” </p>
<p>“Not important right now!” Monokuma clapped a paw over his mouth. “I’ve said too much!”</p>
<p>“Whatever.” Mondo needed something, and arguing with Monokuma wasn’t gonna give it to him. “...What happens to people after they die?” </p>
<p>“Are you asking me to solve one of the great mysteries of the universe for you right now? I might be your headmaster, but I’m not omnipotent!” Monokuma laughed hysterically at his own joke. </p>
<p>“Not when people die in general!” Mondo was really trying his best to stay calm, but he had never been the best at controlling his emotions (as Chihiro’s corpse would attest). “We already know that you, uh… ‘clean up’ the crime scenes and shit. So I’m guessin’ that you do the same thing after executions too, right? So what do you do with the bodies?” </p>
<p>“Very astute of you! I’d expect nothing less from any of my prized students!” Monokuma grinned proudly.</p>
<p>“Don’t dodge the question.” </p>
<p>“Geez, I was getting to it!” Monokuma sighed. “Yeah, I’m not gonna tell you.” </p>
<p>“WHAT? ALL THAT FUCKING BUILDUP, AND YOU WON’T TELL ME?” </p>
<p>“Yup!” Monokuma cooed. “Isn't it glorious? All that buildup, and no release- don’t you just feel so pent up? Like you’re going to burst?” </p>
<p>“You fuckin’ perverted bear-” Mondo drew back his crowbar and prepared to smash through the door, aiming for anywhere but Kiyotaka’s pixelated face.</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” Mondo’s new handbook buzzed from his coat pocket. He stopped mid-swing and went to check the device. </p>
<p>A new rule had been added. “Rule #12: Attempting to break into locked rooms is strictly prohibited.” </p>
<p>“Are you kidding me? You’re just doing this to fuck with me!” Mondo’s eyes flared up with anger and… something else. </p>
<p>Monokuma recognized the look well. “Ah, there it is-” He was panting again, seemingly hot and bothered. “That’s right!” </p>
<p>Mondo felt like the world was spinning around him. His pupils dilated. To anyone watching, it almost looked like his eyes became spirals. </p>
<p>“Every step… every turn… no matter what I do, you’re just there, making things worse!” He felt like his soul was leaving his body. His muscles tensed. He brought back the crowbar, and prepared once more to swing-<br/>Nothing. Someone was holding the tip of the crowbar. He turned around and saw Kyoko on her tiptoes, barely able to reach. </p>
<p>“...Kirigiri?” He softened his body. “Y’gotta be more careful- I almost hit ya!”</p>
<p>“I know.” She let go of the tip. </p>
<p>Mondo shook his head a few times and took a deep breath. The dizziness behind his eyes seemed to fade. Monokuma, seeing his moment of opportunity had passed, disappeared again. </p>
<p>“You can’t keep breaking Monokuma’s rules.” Kyoko said bluntly. “One of these times, someone won’t be around to help, and you’re going to get seriously hurt or killed. And then Ishimaru’s life will have been a waste.” </p>
<p>“You can’t just say that!” Mondo wanted to get angry, but he knew she was right. Kiyotaka had died to save him- getting killed would just mean… he had done it for nothing. He couldn’t let that happen. He dropped the crowbar. </p>
<p>“I’m sorry, Oowada. I know how much Ishimaru meant to you.” She turned to leave. “...There’s something you should see. It hasn’t been fair of us to keep it from you.” She walked away. </p>
<p>“What? You can’t just say that and not explain-” He followed her, leaving everything else behind.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you to everyone who's staying tuned for more chapters! I'm working very hard on this fanfiction, so that means a lot. </p>
<p>Also, another thank you to everyone who reached out to me on Tumblr!! I love talking to people, so please come bother me!</p>
<p>https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com</p>
<p>I post art and things there, so if you wanna see more of the content that I make that's the best place to do so!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Alter Ego</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Mondo finally gets to meet Alter Ego. Things don't exactly go as planned. </p><p>ALSO! CW!! This chapter has some minor NSFW mentions at the beginning. Nothing explicit.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm very proud of how fast I've been managing to write these chapters! While I'm slightly worried that this pic might be a little longer than intended, I'm very much on schedule for writing these.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It turned out that it actually wasn’t very far that they had to go. Kyoko stopped Mondo right before the two of them entered the bathhouse. </p><p>“In here.” She whispered to him. “Just… keep an open mind.” She disappeared into the depths of the changing room, leaving Mondo alone. </p><p>“This better not be a sex thing.” He prayed to every god that existed. They were in the middle of a fucking killing game, for god’s sake- he didn’t think he’d even be able to get it up with how stressed out he was. Steeling his nerves, he once more followed Kyoko into the darkness. </p><p>Once inside, Mondo’s eyes had to adjust to the dim lighting. Once they focused and he was able to see once again, he realized it was much more than just him and Kyoko in here. At first glance, it seemed like all his surviving classmates were all crammed into this small room. Thank god- that drastically reduced the odds of it being a weird sex thing (although it was still possible).</p><p>“What’s goin’ on in here?” He grunted at the closest person, who happened to be Yasuhiro Hagakure. <br/>“AH!” Yasuhiro jumped, not expecting Mondo to appear so suddenly. “Wh- Oowada?” He laughed nervously before turning to Kyoko. “Hey, uh, Kirigiri? Did you know that we have a, uhhhh… guest?” </p><p>“Yes, I’m well aware that Oowada is here. I invited him.” Kyoko replied, tucking a strand of lavender hair behind her ear. </p><p>“Don’t you think that there’s a possibility- say, a 70 percent chance, according to my predictions- that this is going to end horribly?” Yasuhiro responded, bringing his hand nervously to his mouth.</p><p>“I considered that. But I also considered that it would probably end worse if we kept this from him and he discovered it on his own.” Kyoko shot back at him quickly.</p><p>“Kept what from me? What’s going on here?” Mondo’s hands had balled up into fists. “Tell me, right now!” </p><p>“Yamada, move. Now.” Kyoko pointed at Hifumi, who was standing anxiously in front of the row of lockers. </p><p>“O-of course, Kirigiri-dono!” Hifumi sweatily shuffled over a few feet, revealing an open locker. </p><p>An open locker with a COMPUTER inside it. </p><p>“Holy shit, is that thing on?” Mondo’s lavender eyes grew wide. “Can we talk to the outside world or something? Is help on the way?”</p><p>“Not exactly.” A small voice piped up from the computer. </p><p>“Wait, is that-” Mondo subconsciously took a few steps back. </p><p>“Yes, it is.” Kyoko went up the locker and turned the computer around so Mondo could see the monitor. “It’s Fujisaki.”</p><p>It was true; the face now looking up at Mondo from the screen was indeed that of their deceased friend, Chihiro Fujisaki. It was admittedly slightly more grainy and pixelated, but it was undoubtedly them. Well, in a sense. The computer introduced itself (themself?) as Alter Ego, and explained that Chihiro had made them before their death. </p><p>At the mention of Chihiro’s death, Mondo went pale. “So you… uh… know what I did? To yo- I mean, to Fujisaki?”</p><p>“Yes. I was informed by the others about… the events that occurred.” Alter Ego didn’t (couldn’t?) make eye contact with Mondo. “And what happened to Ishimaru.”</p><p>“I just- I’m sorry. I wasn’t strong enough. I took it out on you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Mondo repeated. He knew in his heart of hearts that there would never be enough apologies in the world to make up the evil that he had committed against poor Chihiro, who only wanted Mondo’s help.</p><p>“It’s alright, man!” A different voice came from the laptop’s external speakers. A new avatar popped up to replace Chihiro, too- Leon. “We’ve been placed in a totally unreasonable situation. Shit’s fucked up.” His virtual self grinned, before being replaced once more with Alter Ego. </p><p>“...I thought it might be helpful for you to talk to someone… who, er, had been in a similar position.” Alter Ego rationalized, blushing a little. “I have data on all of you! Master- er, Chihiro- was very in depth about informing me of all of your individual personalities.” Quickly, the avatar began to shift and change, rapidly flickering through a lot of people- Makoto, Junko, Hifumi, Aoi, Sayaka- before going back to its default setting. “Of course, nobody’s data is as complete as what I have on Master, but I can do a reasonable job of emulating anybody you want me to. That’s how I was made, after all!” </p><p>“...Anyone? You can be anyone that you have data on?” Mondo replied, his face tight with shock. </p><p>“Do you have someone in mind?” Alter Ego raised an eyebrow. </p><p>“I need to talk to Taka-” The words left Mondo’s mouth before he knew he was saying them.</p><p>As quickly as the command was given, Alter Ego’s form shifted into a friendly, smiling face. It was Kiyotaka, or at least a very good imitation. “I’m Kiyotaka Ishimaru! I believe in bold simplicity! Let’s work together on our educational crusade!” Kiyotaka’s infamous, much mocked greeting rang out loudly through the speakers.</p><p>“No, we can’t talk to Ishimaru, he’s too loud! We’re gonna get caught!” Aoi fretted, squeezing her hands together in fear. Kyoko shot her a look. </p><p>“Taka… kyoudai… Why the FUCK did you do that?” All of Mondo’s strength snapped. Tears finally sprung to his eyes, and he let them run freely down his face for once. “You idiot! You got yourself killed for no reason at all, man! You had your whole life ahead of ya, and you threw it all away for a no good murderer!”</p><p>“Language, kyoudai.” The false Kiyotaka chided him gently before continuing. “But I do need you to know something- I didn’t do it for nothing.” Kiyotaka/Alter Ego smiled softly. “I did it for you.”</p><p>At the sound of those words, Mondo really broke down. He couldn’t say anything else. Kiyotaka had been his friend. Hell, he had almost been more than a friend. But Mondo had known from the beginning how unlikely their friendship would be- the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader being best buddies with the Ultimate Moral Compass? It was unheard of. He had been so lucky that Kiyotaka had decided to give him a second chance and open up to him. If Taka- the Ultimate Moral Compass, the true judge of right and wrong- had really seen something that good inside him, what other choice did he have? Mondo had to keep Kiyotaka’s memory alive. Mondo had to really reach inside himself, fix what was wrong, and really BE GOOD- not just for his own sake, but for Kiyotaka too. He had to do it. He promised. </p><p>In that moment, Mondo felt like part of his and a part of Kiyotaka’s souls had fused inside his chest. He knew it was cheesy and cliche, but he couldn't help but bring a hand to his heart.</p><p>Meanwhile, Alter Ego had flipped back to their base form. “Does anyone else have someone they’d like to see me be?” The locker was soon surrounded by classmates asking to either talk to some of their deceased friends or see what a computerized version of themselves would look like. </p><p>Mondo decided that he needed to leave. He needed some time to himself to process what Alter Ego had said to him, what it meant, and what to do about this new vow he had made. Besides, he really didn’t like the way Hifumi was talking to Alter Ego- it was disgustingly sensual to the point where it was almost erotic. Mondo had to resist the urge to punch Yamada right in his round face- that machine was Kiyotaka too! He didn’t want to let Hifumi slobber all over the only way he had left to communicate with his best friend. The only thing stopping him was his promise- he had to do better, to be better. Mondo figured that while ‘being good’ was a subjective concept, Kiyotaka would definitely frown upon violence.</p><p>Unnoticed by all except the ever-watchful Kyoko, Mondo left the bathhouse and headed back to his dorm with a renewed sense of purpose. He went into his dorm, closed the door behind him, sat down on the bed, and once more pulled out the bright red armband from his pocket. </p><p>He examined it closely before gently sliding it onto his forearm.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Come bother me on Tumblr!</p><p>https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com</p><p>I draw a lot of Trigger Happy Havoc and Goodbye Despair fanart, and I love talking to people!</p><p>Please... need more Ishimondo friends....</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. A New Motive</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Monokuma presents the class with a new motive. Also, Mondo and Alter Ego have a conversation.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey! I know it's probably lame to promote fan art you drew yourself of your own fan fiction, but I drew the ending scene of the last chapter! If you want to see it, the link to the post made on my Tumblr is below! </p><p>https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com/post/628606618049953792/the-blackened-chapter-1-multidimensionalcon</p><p>Also, back-to-back daily uploads?? Who am I?????</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The brief moment of non-murderous peace that the students had been enjoying after the second trial couldn’t last forever- everyone knew it. It was only a matter of time until Monokuma stepped in to completely fuck things up again. </p><p>This fact of life was proven true two days after the Alter Ego incident, when Monokuma released a new video announcement demanding that they all come to the gymnasium. Instinctually Mondo knew what that meant- the bicolored bear had another motive to give them, a new reason to kill one another. He shuddered. The last one had been more than successful enough. Regardless, he dutifully trudged to the gym- he knew the consequences of what would happen if he didn’t show up. </p><p>When they all got there, the gym appeared to be empty. </p><p>“W-what’s going on? Where’s H-headmaster Monokuma?” Touko asked, nervously biting at her fingernails. She looked around to find Byakuya, her unwilling oasis of calm in the killing game’s desert of panic. He was busy desperately trying to hide behind Sakura, not wanting to have to interact with Fukawa more than he had to. Mondo couldn’t really blame him- while he had admittedly been a little distracted during the last trial, even he couldn’t have missed the reveal of Touko’s split personality. In a weird, fucked-up sort of way, it did comfort Mondo a little to know that there was actually someone here who had killed more people than him. </p><p>“To take a note from your own book, ‘You called for me, and so I appear’!” Monokuma popped up from underneath the podium atop the stage spouting Genocider Syo’s catchphrase. </p><p>Touko shrieked upon Monokuma’s appearance, taking a few steps back. “I-I-I regret saying anything!!’ </p><p>The bear ignored her. “Is everyone here? Is this it?” He took a look around the room. “Yep, seems like I don’t have to resort to drastic measures- this time, at least!”</p><p>“Cut to the chase.” Celeste looked up at the stage, her eyes glazed over with what looked like boredom. “You didn’t call us all to congregate here for nothing, no?” </p><p>“Very astute as always, Ludenberg-chan! Or I suppose you’d prefer Miss Ludenburg, hmm?” Monokuma chuckled. “But yes, I did make you come here for a reason.” He clapped two soft little paws together, and something dropped from the ceiling. </p><p>Mondo tensed his muscles, unsure as to what it was- once he realized what the object was, however, he had to actually suppress the urge to laugh. It was money. A lot of money, yes, but just money. </p><p>“How much exactly is that, you might be asking yourself? Why, it’s ten million American dollars! Or rather one billion, sixty-two million, eight hundred five thousand yen, if you’re more Japanese-money inclined.” Monokuma’s eyes lit up with glee. He clearly thought that this motive would be a smash hit.</p><p>“Ten million American dollars?” Byakuya stepped out from his hiding place in Sakura’s shadow to sneer at Monokuma. “That’s all? I was playing with more money than that when I was still in diapers. Pathetic.” He turned and walked out of the gym. </p><p>“Wait wait wait, d-don’t leave me!!!!!” Touko sprinted after Byakuya.</p><p>“...While I totally think that his heart might not be in the right place, Togami’s right!” Aoi piped up. “Nobody’s gonna kill anyone for that!” </p><p>“You really think so?” The headmaster’s face fell. “Geez… and here I was all optimistic…” He sighed. “Alright. I guess you’re dismissed, then…”</p><p>Mondo wasted no time getting out of the gym. “What the fuck was that?” He muttered to himself. Money? They were all just teenagers! What use would any of them have for that kind of money, even if they did manage to kill someone for it? Admittedly, Mondo had thought before about how much better his life would be if he had some sort of cash influx, but… </p><p>He couldn’t do it again. He couldn’t be able to stand on top of someone’s dead body, watch the light leave their eyes- he could never kill someone ever again. He’d kill himself first. </p><p>So the “motive” Monokuma had supplied this time around was truly meaningless to Mondo- and he hoped it would be the same for his peers.</p><p>He had some free time for the rest of the day. Makoto had tried once or twice in the past to hang out with him, but truth be told he wasn’t really looking to have a replacement best friend. Every time he had tried to spend time with Naegi, he was just bitterly reminded of how much better Ishimaru was. Sure, Makoto was slightly more street-smart and was much less uptight, but Kiyotaka was special. The way he had made Mondo laugh, the way he smiled with his whole face, his naive trust and faith in the goodness of people- the way he had made Mondo’s stomach feel like it was filled with nervous butterflies, the softness of his hair, how he always smelled like laundry detergent and pine needles- </p><p>Mondo pushed those thoughts out of his head. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on the past. However…</p><p>Without even realizing it, Mondo’s feet had steered him into the bathhouse. He looked around- he was alone. Nobody had followed him. This was good. He did a quick cursory check of how he looked in one of the many mirrors around before walking over to the laptop Alter Ego lived in and turning it on. </p><p>“Hello!” The immediate reply came from the AI. </p><p>“SSSSSSSSshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh- Not so loud, man! I’m gonna get caught!” Mondo hissed at the computer before realizing how stupid he sounded. “...Er. I guess you don’t really have a way to control your volume, huh?” His hands went to the keys, typing out what he wanted to say. “It’s not that I don’t like lookin’ at Fujisaki and all, but, uh, could I talk to Ishimaru?” </p><p>“Of course!” Without a second of hesitation, Alter Ego switched into Kiyotaka. “Hello, Oowada-kun! What did you wish to speak about with me?” </p><p>“Aw, geez, drop the formalities, please.” Mondo groaned. “I can’t handle that right now.” </p><p>Confusedly, Alter Ego switched back to their default state. “I’m sorry, but is my information on Kiyotaka correct? Master told me that he is- er, was- deeply ingrained in tradition and cared about respect and status. Would it not be in character for him to use honorifics when referring to a classmate?”</p><p>“No, no, he would, it’s just…” He sighed. “I guess it’s just something you haven’t really had a ton of experience with, huh? Relationships.” </p><p>“Were you and Ishimaru in a relationship?” Alter Ego asked quizzically. “Master never said anything about that, and they told me quite a bit about all of you. Master always spoke quite highly of you, Oowada.” </p><p>“No, not in that way!” Mondo’s breath hitched. “I mean, like interpersonal relationships. Friends. Well, I mean- I guess we were more than friends BUT NOT IN THAT WAY-” He fruitlessly yet desperately trying to explain himself to an uncaring computer. </p><p>Thankfully (or maybe not), his conversation with Alter Ego was cut short by a noise from outside. Mondo jumped up and got as far away from the laptop as was humanly possible in the confined space of the changing room. </p><p>“Oh! Hello, Oowada-dono.” Hifumi stammered out. “Er, not to be rude, but would you mind leaving the bathhouse?” He was sweating profusely. </p><p>“Oh, uh, sure. Are ya gonna shower? You look like you could use one, no offense.” </p><p>“Yes, yes, shower!” Yamada responded unconvincingly. </p><p>“...Ooookay.” Mondo decided now would be a good time to leave. He actually very much didn’t want to know what Hifumi was about to get up to in the bathhouse by himself. </p><p>As he walked away, he could have sworn he heard Hifumi say something to Alter Ego.</p><p>The evening passed by quickly. Mondo ate dinner alone, showered in his room, and changed into pajamas. He was preparing to go to bed before a knock came from the door. He went over and opened it.</p><p>Yamada again. Before Mondo could open his mouth to speak and ask him what in the fuck he was doing bothering him right now, Hifumi cut him off.</p><p>“What the hell did you do to Alter Ego?” He pointed a finger accusatorially at Mondo.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So I start my senior year tomorrow, meaning that I'll probably have less time to write from now on. I'm trying to get a bunch of chapters written and queued up so you guys still have stuff to read, though!</p><p>ALSO THANK YOU TO EVERYONE LEAVING COMMENTS OR KUDOS!!! I read every single comment and try to reply to all of them! You guys make my day &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Body Discovery</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Celestia, Hifumi, and Yasuhiro go missing. Will Mondo and his friends be able to find them all safe and sound?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Y'ALL ARE TOO NICE TO ME- YOU JUST MAKE ME WANT TO KEEP UPLOADING!! So here you go, an extra chapter three days before it was supposed to be ready!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It turns out that in the few hours that had passed since Mondo had been interrupted in the bathhouse, Alter Ego had gone missing. Hifumi refused to believe that it had been anyone other than Mondo who had taken the laptop, insisting to anyone that would listen that they should turn over his room until they found it. Mondo had insisted that if anyone so much as stepped foot into his room without his permission, they’d wind up missing an eye. </p><p>Three days then passed Alter-Ego-less, and the stress was beginning to take a toll on everyone. Even the normally cool and collected Kyoko was starting to display signs of fear. The only thing that had been passable as ‘good news’ had been that Celestia had found a little disposable camera (that Hifumi also insisted was his) in the physics lab. However, even that amount of joy was overtaken by worry- What if Monokuma had been the one who found the computer? What evil things could the sadistic headmaster be doing to the poor AI? </p><p>On the eve of the fourth day since the laptop was stolen, a paper note was slipped under Mondo’s door. It read as follows:</p><p>“I think I might have found a way out of here. Come to the supply closet in the physics lab at six thirty tomorrow morning, ok? Make sure you’re not followed and DON’T TELL ANYONE ELSE- you’re the only one I trust with this information!”</p><p>The note was unsigned. Mondo snorted with laughter. An anonymous directive telling him to go to a secluded area by himself before everyone else was awake? You’d either have to be stupid or suicidal to do that. He crumpled the note into a ball and threw it into his jacket pocket before going to bed.</p><p>He slept through the supposed meeting time. He didn’t care that he missed it- he wasn’t planning on getting killed anytime soon. </p><p>*DING DONG, BING BONG!* The familiar bell chimed as it did every morning. Mondo groaned and threw his pillow over his head to cover his ears. It didn’t matter- Monokuma’s grating voice still reached his ears regardless. </p><p>“Good morning, everyone! It is now 7 a.m. and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine!” The bear yelled through the intercom system.</p><p>7 a.m., huh? Mondo sat up and ran a hand through his undone hair. Hopefully nothing bad had happened overnight. He went to go get dressed and complete his morning routine, but before he could even get both feet on the floor he was interrupted by a fast, hard press of the doorbell on the door. </p><p>“I’m comin’, I’m comin’-” Mondo hurried over, still in his pajamas, before throwing the door open. </p><p>It was Sakura, her eyes wide with surprise. “Ah, so you’re alright!” </p><p>“Of course ‘m all right.” Mondo yawned. “Why? Did something happen?” </p><p>“I wouldn’t be this concerned if something hadn’t!” She clenched her fists in frustration. “None of us can find Hagakure, Yamada, or Ludenberg anywhere!” </p><p>“Wait wait wait, you can’t?” Mondo snapped out of his sleepy state. “That’s bad. That’s really bad. Do you think they’re all-” </p><p>“DEAD?” Monokuma popped up from behind Mondo. “Gee, I hope not!”</p><p>“HOLY FUCKING SHIT-” Mondo could have sworn it took all of his strength to keep himself from jumping into the air. “Don’t DO that, you creep!”</p><p>Monokuma ignored him. “If the guilty party really had killed three students, they would have broken the brand-new school rule!” At the end of his sentence, Sakura and Mondo’s handbooks emitted the telltale beep that there was now a new rule added to the student handbook.</p><p>Sakura pulled hers out and began to read. “Rule #13: The guilty party may only kill a maximum of two people during any single "Killing Game." What? What is the meaning of this, Monokuma?” </p><p>“Well, I thought all the fun of the game would just be ruined if one of you had a genocidal streak- or at least more of a genocidal streak than our local serial killer-” Monokuma jerked his paw in the general direction of Touko’s dormitory. “So I decided to enstate this new edict!”</p><p>“What the actual fuck are you going on about-” Mondo began to ask, but before he could finish his sentence Monokuma disappeared. </p><p>“Ignore him. We need to make sure everyone else is alright.” Sakura responded. </p><p>Mondo agreed with her, as much as he hated to admit it. Monokuma was a bastard, but that would have to wait. There were more important things at stake.</p><p>The two of them patrolled the halls of the school, trying to find their peers. Togami was easy enough to spot- he was holed up in the library, unaware that anything was even happening. If anything, he seemed more annoyed than anything that Sakura and Mondo were bothering him. Sakura had checked up on Aoi first- she was currently sweeping the first floor trying to find Makoto, Kyoko or Touko. </p><p>It wasn’t until they got to the third floor that the two of them were able to find anyone. As soon as Mondo and Sakura stepped boot and shoe respectively on the landing, they heard a blood-curdling shriek erupt from the recreation room. The two of them dropped everything and ran there as fast as possible, revealing Celestia. She looked a little scuffed up- as if she had been attacked by someone. There was a grey and blue hammer on the ground with some sort of yellow writing on it. It actually reminded Mondo a little of something straight out of the Batman comics he had seen when he was a kid.</p><p>“Please, help!” Celestia broke his nostalgic train of thought, clutching her hands to her heart. “I was attacked by an evil robot!” </p><p>Mondo turned and looked at Ludenberg. He raised an eyebrow. “An evil robot? Do you think I was born yesterday, lady?”</p><p>“AN EVIL ROBOT??” Interrupted a voice behind them. It was Aoi, and she had Makoto in tow. “Oh my gosh!! What did it look like?” She was pale with fear. </p><p>“I’m glad you asked!” Celestia pulled out a small pink box from behind her back. It was the little camera she had found earlier. Mondo internally groaned- what kind of stunt was she trying to pull?</p><p>Makoto and Aoi crowded around Celestia, trying to see what she was showing them. “Holy cow!” Makoto took the camera from Celestia and brought it over to Sakura and Mondo. He instantly understood why Naegi was surprised- Maybe Ludenberg hadn’t been lying! The picture clearly showed a giant, lanky robot dragging Hifumi away. </p><p>“Where did they take Yamada?” He quickly asked Celestia. “He could be in danger!” </p><p>Her red eyes never broke contact with his lavender ones as she kept talking. “I think they took him to the art room!” </p><p>Mondo, Makoto, and Aoi rushed to the art room, leaving Sakura to tend to Celestia. They still hadn’t found Hiro, but that would have to wait until later. As they hurried over there, Ludenberg’s haunting red eyes never left Mondo’s mind. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he had some sort of deja vu when looking at her. That could wait until later, however; they still had to find Hifumi!</p><p>Aoi had beat them all to the art room, which didn’t really surprise anyone. She was a star athlete after all. “He’s not in here!” Her voice cracked. She really was worried about Hifumi, Mondo noted. He was slightly jealous of her empathy, but that was yet another thing that could be fretted over later and not when they were in a possible life or death situation. </p><p>“Oh my god.” Came Makoto’s hushed voice from the back of the room. “In here!” </p><p>He had opened the art supply closet to find Hifumi laying on the ground, his head covered in blood. “Is he dead?” Aoi asked, her eyes filling with tears. “God, please, not again-”</p><p>Mondo had also rushed over to where Yamada lay. “Wait, I think he’s still breathin’-”</p><p>Aoi rushed over to his side. “Hifumi, Hifumi, please! Please don’t die, I can’t lose you too, please!” She was bawling. Thick, hot tears spilled down her cheeks and onto Hifumi’s face, clearing up some of the bloodstains. </p><p>“Asahina-dono… I’m so cold...” Hifumi coughed. </p><p>“Who did this to you, Yamada?” Makoto asked him. </p><p>“Y...Yasu- Yasuhiro-” He managed to sputter out before his eyes closed again. This time, they never reopened.</p><p>“No! NO!” Aoi screamed at Hifumi, but it didn’t matter.</p><p>There was an agonizing few moments of silence before everything fell apart. </p><p>“A body has been discovered!” Screeched Monokuma over the loudspeaker. He went on to say something about how they had some time to investigate before the trial, but Mondo couldn’t have cared any less. He had just watched someone die in front of him for what felt like the millionth time (even though he rationally knew it had only been the fifth, counting Daiya). Who could focus on investigating at a time like this? </p><p>Makoto Naegi, that’s who. He was already poking around Hifumi’s body, announcing that he had found another one of those stupidly painted hammers. Mondo couldn’t stand to watch Makoto do that- he thought he’d be sick if he had to watch someone mess with another poor corpse after what Byakuya had done to Chihiro. His head spun. He had to get out of the art room. </p><p>Mondo rushed out into the hallways and ran down into the men’s bathrooms. He dry heaved a couple times, but he never actually vomited. He almost wished he had; Maybe that might have removed the heavy ache that kept continually growing right underneath his heart every time he saw someone who he had considered a friend die in front of him. </p><p>He stayed in that bathroom trying to keep from puking or crying until a few hours later, when the second dreaded part of every body discovery announcement came, Monokuma’s screeches once more yelling at him from the speakers on the walls.</p><p>“It’s trial time, everyone! Report to the trial room immediately!”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>In case you were wondering who Mondo had seen die, it was (in order): Daiya, Leon, Chihiro, Kiyotaka, and Hifumi. Too many for one poor 17 year old, anyway.</p><p>Come bother me on Tumblr!</p><p>https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com</p><p>I love talking to you guys! The feedback keeps me motivated to work :D</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Third Trial Aftermath</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The third trial ended with a bang (literally), and Kyoto has some thought she'd like to share with the group.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It's been like a week since my last upload... I'm not dead just swamped with schoolwork :(</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Another day, another horrible execution. It was startling how frequent these fucked-up homicidal acts were becoming. Mondo brushed some of the remnant dusty ashes off the shoulder of his long coat and shuddered, thinking back to what he had just watched. </p><p>Kyoko and Makoto had teamed up together in the trial once more, effortlessly proving that Celestia had killed Hifumi, and that she had meant to have Hifumi kill Mondo. Since Mondo had never shown up for the meeting that the note instructed him to, her whole plan had fallen apart. Turns out she had enlisted the nerd’s help in constructing some sort of robotic suit that they could trap Hagakure in, pinning the murders of Mondo and Hifumi on Hiro instead of Takeo. Oh yeah, that was something else new that they had learned during the trial- turns out that Ludenberg had been lying about who she really was the whole time, trying to craft some sort of European-Royality alternate persona when in reality she was a normal Japanese citizen named Takeo Yasuhiro. Mondo didn’t really understand it, but that was just one in a long list of things that were currently happening that Mondo absolutely didn’t understand. </p><p>Celestia’s execution, however… That, Mondo did understand. It had been the most elaborate and gruesome one yet. Ludenberg/Takeo had been tied to a wooden post and lit ablaze like Joan of Arc. But just when everyone thought she was going to die the way she wanted, as a European princess dying a noble death, Monokuma had come out of nowhere and crushed her body with a giant fire truck. In the elevator ride back up from the trial room, he had heard some of his classmates discussing why their headmaster had interrupted, why he hadn’t just let the execution play out. Mondo knew why- it was a skill he had had to display many times in the past as the leader of a biker gang. It was a raw display of the force Monokuma held over them. By making everyone think that Celestia was going to die the way she wanted- the way she deserved- and then at the last minute throwing a wrench in the plans and executing her in a different way… Monokuma had sent them a message. Nobody was more powerful than he was, even those who could manipulate everything else, they couldn’t get to him. He was the god of their realm, and not even death was out of his control. </p><p>If it wasn’t so monumentally fucked up, Mondo honestly would have respected the power move.</p><p>The only thing that they had left to do to really tie up the rest of Ludenberg’s affairs was to retrieve Alter Ego from her room. Before she was executed, she let Kyoko know that she had been the one who stole the laptop to use as a leveraging chip against Hifumi and that it was safe and sound in her dorm. While Mondo had to admit that it was definitely a little messed up how much all of them- himself included- were reliant on that computer… he really just wanted to talk to Kiyota- ALTER EGO, god, he had to keep reminding himself of that- again. </p><p>Mondo shook his head. He had to keep reminding himself that Kiyotaka was dead, he was gone, and he was never coming back- pretending that he was still there using a computer was… well, it was nothing short of fucked up. But that was another thing that could be handled at a later date, preferably with an actual therapist. He rushed down the hallway towards Celestia’s room, hope in his eyes, only to find-</p><p>Kyoko was standing in front of the room with the dorm keys in her hand. She was closing the door behind her. </p><p>“Is it in there?” Mondo asked her.</p><p>“Not anymore.” She answered bluntly. “In fact, I need to talk to you about it. All of you. Meet me in the bath house in fifteen minutes.” With that, she swiveled on her heel and left. </p><p>“What, like we haven’t just been through a horrible and traumatic experience or some shit?” Mondo muttered under his breath, but he dutifully showed up to Kyoko’s surprise meeting.</p><p>“Is everyone here? Good.” She did a cursory sweep through the room, making sure Monokuma hadn’t followed any of them in.</p><p>“Togami and Fukawa aren’t here-” Aoi piped up. </p><p>“Like I said, everyone’s here.” Kyoko interrupted.</p><p>“Damn, harsh. But I respect that.” Yasuhiro shrugged, keeping with his lackadaisical attitude.</p><p>“Ok, somebody tell me why we’re all here again before I go crazy trying to keep up with this conversation?” Aoi silenced her classmates, trying to redirect the attention back to Kyoko.</p><p>“Thank you, Hina.” Kyoko continued. “I’d like to instate a new rule.” She said bluntly. “From now on, nobody is allowed to use Alter Ego without permission. Understood? Good. Meeting dismissed.” She turned to leave, as seemed to be her favorite thing to do after she finished speaking. </p><p>“Wait a goddamn minute!” Mondo snapped. “Who the hell are you to put yourself in charge? You can’t just say something like that and expect us all to listen to you! Right?” He turned to his peers, expecting them to agree with him, but-</p><p>Nothing. They were all looking towards Kyoko. “I mean it makes sense.” Sakura simply said. “Ludenberg was willing to use it to get Yamada to kill someone. Yamada was so attached to it that he was willing to kill. Clearly, that’s a very dangerous object that needs restrictions placed on it.”</p><p>“But- But-” Mondo was incredulous. Why was everyone just lying down and letting KIRIGIRI of all people walk all over them? They didn’t even know her! She refused to tell anyone what her Ultimate was, she disappeared for hours at a time without telling anyone, and she just wouldn’t sit still long enough to have a decent goddamn conversation!</p><p>“Er, if it’s alright with everyone, there’s actually something I’d like to talk about as well-” Makoto said meekly. “I was out after night-time the other night, and-”</p><p>Mondo was too blinded by rage to care enough to hear the rest of the story. “Fucking bullshit! You all can’t just fucking make decisions based on whatever just one person says. Whatever happened to working together, or friendship, or whatever the fuck you all used to go on about?” </p><p>“All the other people with the right personality types are either dead, Togami, or you. Togami’s unreliable at best, and you weren’t stepping up to the plate.” Kyoko shrugged. “If you have an issue with it, use your supposed Ultimate Talent. Be a leader.”</p><p>He saw red. “WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU TO TELL ME I AIN’T A GODDAMN LEADER-” If Kyoko hadn’t been a girl, he very likely would have thrown a punch. Mondo stormed out of the bathhouse, swearing up a storm the whole time. </p><p>He made his way back to his room and slammed the door behind him. He took off his coat and threw it roughly on one of the chairs, causing Kiyotaka’s armband to flutter out of the pocket. He grabbed it before it hit the floor- Mondo wasn’t about to let it get dirty. He didn’t know how well the delicate silk would fare in the rough school washing machines, and he hadn’t had the chance to ask Kiyotaka how he washed it before he died.</p><p>Kiyotaka’s death… how different would things be if instead of Mondo living, Kiyotaka had? Would they be in a better place? Taka had always gone on and on about his lofty goals of becoming Prime Minister and his plans to make the country better- Mondo hated to admit it, but Kiyotaka likely was a much better leader than he had ever been. Would he have taken over? Would Celestia still have killed Hifumi? </p><p>“It should have been me. I’m so sorry.” Mondo took a deep breath in, looked up at the ceiling, and did something that he’d wanted to do since they found Yamada’s dying body. </p><p>He cried.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I feel like Mondo would have really repressed his emotions for most of his life- toxic masculinity and all that. So I think the most important lesson Taka could have taught him is that it's ok to cry, y'know?</p><p>Come bother me on Tumblr!</p><p>( https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com )</p><p>Comments are always appreciated- I try to respond to every single one!! &lt;3</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Traitorous Times</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Please just allow Mondo to have some time to do self-reflection... He's straight up having a bad time right now, and the new Motive Monokuma's introducing is definitely not going to help matters.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'M NOT DEAD I SWEAR </p><p>I was trying to release at least one chapter a week, but seeing as my last update was eight days ago clearly I'm not doing too hot at that... Anyway! I'm writing, I promise, I've just been so busy lately with school starting up again that I haven't had any free time (ok and my copies of Ultra Despair Girls and Killing Harmony finally came in the mail and I've been playing those a little bit). I just promise I'm not abandoning this fic!!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Everyone ended up respecting Kyoko’s wishes regarding Alter Ego. Mondo had wanted to challenge her on it a few times, but every time he approached that long mass of lavender hair and aura of confidence, he lost his nerve. The only thing that kept him from losing his mind was the steady reassuring presence of Kiyotaka, kept alive by the red loop of ribbon Mondo had grown accustomed to carrying with him at all times. Hell, he even felt a little guilty when he left it alone while he showered or slept, which he admitted probably wasn’t healthy. But when one is trapped in a killing game that seemingly breaks every Geneva convention like it’s its job, sometimes all your coping mechanisms turn into unhealthy ones.</p><p>He did have to admit, however, that his time spent without talking to Kiyotaka- even if he knew that it wasn’t the real thing, and merely a pixelated copy- had left him feeling... Lonely. He missed having people around. He missed making dumb jokes with Chihiro. He missed having lengthy, deep conversations with Taka about the silliest subjects. And weirdest of all, he felt like he was missing things that had never even happened. Mondo felt himself missing spending all nighters studying with Sayaka and Celestia… some sort of… math help group or something, he thought? But they had never even had classes together before this whole “killing game” nonsense started! He missed working out with Leon, but he knew that memory couldn’t be real- the gym didn’t open up until after the first trial, and by that point…</p><p>Mondo felt sick to his stomach. He definitely didn’t need to be reminded any more of the horrible executions, and the fate that he so narrowly avoided. He didn’t know how much borrowed time Ishimaru’s sacrifice had bought him, and he definitely couldn’t spend it thinking about things that couldn’t be changed, like death. </p><p>It’s like Daiya always used to say to him- “There are two things in this life that can’t be avoided, bud. Number one, death. It’s comin’ for all of us, so live each day like it was your last. And number two-” Here, his older brother had paused for dramatic effect. “-Number two is love. You can’t weasel your way outta love no matter how hard you try. Don’t matter who you love, but as soon as it happens, you’re screwed!” </p><p>Mondo had never exactly understood what Daiya meant by “screwed by love”. The death part made sense, sure. He’d been surrounded by death ever since he was a little kid. But love? That was much more of a mystery. </p><p>As it always seemed to do just before Mondo had the opportunity to do any real self-reflection, the television monitor flickered on.</p><p>“Please make your way once more to the gymnasium, everyone! I have another VERY special announcement that I wish to share with you all, puhuhuhuhu!” Monokuma popped into the screen, but as soon as he said those words the television turned off once more. </p><p>Mondo frowned. That was odd- typically, Monokuma liked to drag his announcements on for as long as possible. The creepy little bear had a real flair for the dramatic. Mondo had learned that firsthand on the morning after Chihiro’s death, when Monokuma had personally woke him up and told him that everyone was looking for the body and that he better get his ass up before they discovered it without him. Mondo didn’t think he’d ever remembered a time where he had gotten dressed as fast as he did that horrible morning. He was lucky that he managed to catch up with everyone before they found Chihiro- even if… even if the group hadn’t found Chihiro in the same way Mondo left them. The look of sheer terror on Kiyotaka’s face when he had seen what Byakuya had done to Chihiro’s body- </p><p>Byakuya Togami. That’s right, that pompous smarmy motherfucker was still alive. After what had happened with Alter Ego, the group had mostly just left Togami to his own problems (namely Touko Fukawa, who seemed to be having some sort of mental delusions regarding her “relationship” with the Ultimate Affluent Progeny -which was SUCH a stupid title, Mondo thought-). However, this also meant that Mondo hadn’t had the opportunity to beat the ever loving shit out of him for defiling poor Chihiro’s body like that. Fujisaki had suffered enough as it was. Mondo was their friend, and Mondo had betrayed their trust and killed them.</p><p>Still lost in his own thoughts, Mondo made his way out to the hallway to head towards the gymnasium as directed. </p><p>“Hey! Oowada!” Aoi called out from behind him. He turned around and spotted her and Oogami exiting Sakura’s dormitory. Aoi let go of Sakura’s hand and ran up to Mondo. “Are you ok? You got that weird announcement too, right?” </p><p>“Yeah, I did.” He sighed. “This has gotta be another “motive” or whatever, right?” The fact that Aoi had cared enough to check that he was alright was not lost on him. Mondo knew that he had done some horrible, irredeemable things… But it was still nice to know that there were people around who were trying to forgive him. Even if he didn’t deserve it. He began to walk out of the dormitories with her.</p><p>“What do you think it is this time?” Aoi’s eyes grew wide with fear. “Do you think they’ll… take away the food or something? Like they’ll make us starve until we resort to cannibalism?” She started to tear up at the made-up scenario she was imagining in her head, but stopped quickly once Sakura (who had now caught up and was walking with them) began to speak.</p><p>“Somehow, I doubt that.” Sakura shook her head, a lock of white hair falling in front of her eyes. Aoi reached up and gently tucked it behind her gentle friend’s ear. “Thank you, Hina.” She muttered quietly, her face turning a few shades redder. Mondo thought for a second- was there something going on between the two of them? It wouldn’t surprise him, but also how could anyone justify falling in love while they were trapped in a game where death seemed to be the only outcome?</p><p>“I mean, Oogami’s probably right.” Mondo agreed. “Starvation seems a little extreme, even for whoever’s doing this. I really don’t think Monokuma would just trap us in here and watch us die like rats in a glue trap- he needs the excitement that the kills are giving him.” </p><p>“...” Aoi closed her eyes to avoid starting to cry again. “This… This isn’t fair! I don’t think I can live through this again! I can’t watch another of my friends die, you guys! And the executions-” Hina stopped herself quickly, her eyes darting to Mondo. She clapped a hand over her mouth. It was clear that she had more to say, but she had stopped herself for fear of upsetting Oowada. </p><p>“No, I understand. I don’t think I can watch another one either.” Now it was Mondo’s turn to try not to cry. Every time he closed his eyes, it was all he could see- Kiyotaka offering himself up in Mondo’s place, Kiyotaka being forced to wave to a crowd of faceless people, the banners, the sniper, the blood- Oh, Kiyotaka, you deserved so much more-</p><p>“I’ll see you guys later.” Mondo split apart from Sakura and Aoi. He didn’t think that he would actually be able to hold a conversation right now without spiraling into a total breakdown. </p><p>Once he made his way to the gymnasium (with Hina and Sakura trailing a respectful distance behind), he found that their ragtag group of three were the last to arrive. Even the typically slow-moving Yasuhiro had shown up before them, which admittedly made Mondo a little bit embarrassed. Not that he’d ever admit it.</p><p>“Is everyone here?” Their headmaster’s voice rang out throughout the small gymnasium. Mondo looked around- he couldn’t see Monokuma anywhere, but that just meant that the bear was hiding somewhere and waiting to jump out and scare them. </p><p>“Boo.” Came a soft voice from right behind Mondo’s ear. </p><p>“AAAAAAAAAAAAAA-” He nearly jumped out of his skin. He whipped his head around to find Monokuma standing on the ground behind him, a mischievous grin on his face. </p><p>“Oh, I got you so good!” The pint-sized headmaster laughed maniacally before disappearing from his place on the floor and reappearing on the podium on the stage where he typically gave his addresses from. “Welcome to this week’s assembly, kids! I thought I’d start it off with a little joke- I guess you can just call me the Ultimate Comedian!”</p><p>Nobody laughed at that. Mondo’s face was bright red, half with shame that he had actually gotten scared by the stupid bear and half with fear. </p><p>“Nothing? Nobody’s gonna laugh, or smile, or do anything?” Monokuma scanned the crowd, looking for any sign of a reaction. “Tough crowd, huh? What a bunch of buzzkills.” He seemed oddly dejected, but instantly perked up once more when reminded of the task at hand. “Ah, that’s right. I didn’t just call you all here to show you my comedy routine- although if you ask politely, I might be convinced to do some standup another time.” Monokuma cleared his throat to really make sure that he had everyone’s attention on him. “Ahem. Do any of you remember what I said earlier about there perhaps being a traitor among you?”</p><p>Mondo looked at his classmates. He did vaguely remember the bear saying something about that a while ago, but he hadn’t really been thinking about it. He had been far too focused on first survival, and then secondly survivor’s guilt. Could one of his peers actually be helping Monokuma do the messed up things he kept doing?</p><p>“That’s right! I wasn’t kidding about the whole “traitor” thing, you know. Ol’ Monokuma’s a lotta things, but a liar ain’t one of them!” He shrieked. “And now, allow me to tell you exactly who it is. Don’t ever say that I’ve never done anything nice for you.”</p><p>Monokuma leaned in extremely close to the students, his grin spreading. The sick bastard was enjoying throwing the students through this.</p><p>“The traitor is Sakura Oogami.”</p><p>Eight pairs of eyes fell on the white-haired girl, waiting for her to defend herself. Sakura merely sighed and looked away, her pale blue eyes sadly closing.</p><p>“It’s true.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Come bother me on Tumblr!</p><p>https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com</p><p>I draw fanart and post when I update this fic and also a little bit about my play through of UDG!</p><p>I hope you guys liked the chapter- Please leave some comments if you did! I read every single one and try my best to reply to all of them! It really makes my day when people comment :')</p><p>Oh yeah one last thing before I forget:</p><p>https://open.spotify.com/track/7v1b3qExlTFrpFWrtcnUpE?si=BYj7C4c-S6q_3QjTL_M4zw</p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPPJQNy7bdI</p><p>When The Day Met The Night is an Ishimondo song and you can't change my mind. Listen to it if you disagree but like,, Already making song fits in my head sorry</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Outcasts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>So we found out that Sakura's the traitor. Is it safe to talk to her? Will she even want to listen?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm a day early on my deadline! </p><p>Warning: this chapter's kinda dialogue heavy. Well, at least for my standards.</p><p>HEY IF YOU HAVEN'T YET GO READ Hyacinth BY Space_Freckles!! IT'S SO GOOD :0</p><p>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26555569</p><p>^^Link to the fic (seriously go read it it's so good)</p><p>Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter and I'll try to get another one to you before next Monday!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Maybe not being the only outcast at Hope’s Peak wasn’t so bad, Mondo thought. It had been three days since Sakura had been outed as the traitor by Monokuma, and for the past three days not a single person had so much as glanced at him funny. Everyone was far too focused on what to do with the whole “Oogami Problem”.</p><p>Perhaps that was just the nature of these… chapters, Mondo surmised. It was easy to divide each of the horrible events that had happened into chapters- if anything, that kind of made it easier to deal with. But he digressed. This wasn’t about the past- dwelling on that couldn’t really help them any, could it? Now was the time to think about Sakura.</p><p>Ever since their little impromptu assembly, almost each of them had individually tried to talk to Sakura, albeit without much success. The only person she would allow within speaking distance of her for any longer than a few sentences was Aoi, and even then her responses seemed to be more along the lines of apologies and sighs than any substantial dialogue. In distress, Aoi had gone around to each of them individually and asked them to try talking to her, and to everyone’s credit almost all of them had tried to talk to Sakura by themselves and figure out what was going on. It… hadn’t gone well.</p><p>Makoto had attempted to win her over with gifts that it seemed like he had purchased at random from the school store. A couple of times it had even seemed like it was working, but then he had to mess it all up by giving her a bra that was made to resemble a pair of hands. She had looked so offended that everybody in the immediate vicinity was almost certain that Makoto was about to get made into nothing more than a squashed bug on the floor- but luckily Sakura had simply walked away instead. Honestly, the strange gift was very unlike Makoto. He was usually pretty good at the whole “presents” situation. Mondo vividly remembered early on in their imprisonment when Makoto had given Kiyotaka a short red scarf and he had thought that Taka (at the time, his worst enemy, he regretted) was going to spontaneously combust from gratitude. He also remembered snickering to Leon about how lame it was when Kiyotaka and Makoto had walked off, Taka asking Naegi how to “connect with other kids his age” since he hadn’t ever been into the latest music or movies. Looking back on it, it was so painfully obvious that Ishimaru wasn’t great at talking to people, but he had still made an effort to be as nice to everyone as possible. And in the beginning, Mondo had repaid his genuine kindness with cruelty.</p><p>What would Kiyotaka have done if he were here? For all his issues with communicating in a normal way with his friends, he did usually do well in times of crisis. There were exceptions to this rule, of course, like when he had thought Sakura was a man until their first ever class trial, but Mondo assumed that not only had Sakura not really been that offended by that, she probably had found it mildly amusing (Mondo definitely knew he had). Honestly, he didn’t even have to ask himself what Taka would have done right now. He already knew the answer- Taka would do the right thing.</p><p>Marching down the dormitory hallways towards where Sakura’s dormitory was, he thought about the only other people who hadn’t gone and tried to Oogami yet- Kyoko and Byakuya.</p><p>Kyoko sort of made sense. Actually, now that Mondo was really thinking about it, he hadn’t even seen her since Monokuma’s last announcement was made. She had always kinda been scuttling around in the shadows, but ever since Hifumi’s murder she had been even more secretive than ever. Even though she had been at the impromptu assembly where Monokuma had outed Sakura’s lies, he wasn’t even a hundred percent sure that she had listened to and processed the information. As soon as they were allowed to leave the gymnasium, she had simply gone off by herself to do… whatever it is she did.</p><p>Byakuya also made sense. While Touko actually had taken the time to go and speak to Oogami, everyone was operating under the assumption that Togami had made her go as sort of a joint ambassador for the two of them. It was very businesslike, in a way- having an underling do a job that the boss was too important for. Even if it was incredibly insulting how much better than the rest of them Byakuya thought he was.</p><p>That only left one other person who hadn’t talked to Sakura yet- Mondo himself. And unlike the other two, he didn’t really have much of an excuse like “antisocial” or “unlikable”. Even after news of what he had done to Chihiro had become public knowledge, Sakura had been one of the few of his peers that had tried to comfort him after Kiyotaka’s execution. He could still vividly remember the warmth of her strong hand on his shoulder as he was motionless in the trial room. So why hadn’t Mondo gone and visited her yet?</p><p>To be honest… He was scared.</p><p>He steeled his nerves and knocked on her door. “Hello?”</p><p>No response. Was she ignoring him?</p><p>Mondo waited a few moments of frustrated silence before remembering that all the rooms were soundproof. His face flushed red with embarrassment. He rang the doorbell.</p><p>Within a few seconds, Sakura swung the door open. “Hina, I told you that I’m- Oh.” She looked down at Mondo, a surprised look on her face. “Hello, Oowada.”</p><p>“Hey, uh… Oogami.” He nervously responded. They both stood there looking at each other for a while, not knowing what to say.</p><p>“Would you like to, er, come in?” She said finally, breaking the awkwardness.</p><p>“That. Uh. That would be great.”</p><p>She stepped aside so Mondo could enter. Now instead of standing together in the doorframe, they were standing together in the middle of Sakura’s dorm. It was still not any less weird or uncomfortable, however. She closed the door behind him. It just now hit Mondo how easily she could kill him- how stupid it was for him to come here without telling anyone before hand or arming himself for self defense in any way.</p><p>His newly unearthed terror must have been visible to Sakura, because she laughed a little at him under her breath. “You don’t have to worry about any harm coming to you from my hands, Oowada. I will not hurt anyone. I have made a solemn promise.”</p><p>The words definitely sounded nice, but they didn’t do much to ease Mondo’s mind. “Why’d ya betray us?” The question slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it.</p><p>“Getting right to the point, I see. To be honest, the abruptness is rather refreshing. That’s the first time anyone’s ever truly asked me for my motivation. All of your peers prefer to beat around the bush, choosing to first make small talk before trying to pry out the information a piece at a time.” She paused here for a minute to take a deep breath before continuing. “He- Monokuma, that is- threatened me. Not physically. I wish it were only that.” She looked down at the ground in shame. “No, he threatened something near and dear to my heart. What I was born for.”</p><p>Mondo didn’t really understand what she was talking about, but he could almost understand. He probably would have done the same if pressed into her position. Hell, he had done worse. “That’s… that’s not fair, Sakura. I’m sorry that this happened to you.”</p><p>“Life’s not fair. If it were, none of us would be trapped in here. Enoshima, Kuwata, Fujisaki, Yamada, Ishimaru, Maizono and Ludenberg would still be alive. We’d be attending classes and experiencing what it is that truly makes Hope’s Peak such a wonderful place. Or at least as wonderful as everyone claims it is.” She sighed and fiddled absent-mindedly with her hair. “Thank you, Mondo.”</p><p>“Me? Thank me?” He raised an eyebrow. “Why?”</p><p>“Your presence is… oddly comforting. Maybe it’s because you too know what this feels like. I should apologize, as well. I should have told everyone about this sooner.”</p><p>“Well obviously you weren’t gonna just go telling people, someone would've killed you!”</p><p>This prompted another soft chuckle. “I’d like to see them try.”</p><p>Mondo didn’t know how to respond to that.</p><p>“Perhaps I will try talking to some of our classmates about what I’ve done. See if any of them are as willing to hear me out as you were. In fact, I think that’s what I will do. Hopefully things will be alright. Everyone deserves forgiveness. Forgiveness and a happy ending.” She sighed sadly before opening the door once more for Mondo, silently signaling that she was done talking.</p><p>He obediently walked out into the hallway and walked a few steps before turning around suddenly. That was kind of a weird and melancholy note to end the conversation on, and he figured that maybe he should try and lighten the mood before he left. “Er, hey, thanks for talking with-”</p><p>He was too late. Her door was already closed once more.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the kind comments you left on my last update!</p><p>Questions? Concerns? Hate mail? (please don't send me hate mail haha) Please leave a comment on the chapter if so! </p><p>I read every single comment and do my best to try and respond to all of them! </p><p>(to StupidChild- I know you're probably reading this, so hi in advance! Can't wait to see what you thought of this chapter :D)</p><p>Come bother me on Tumblr! I ramble about garbage and post fanart!</p><p>https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com</p><p>Oh yeah by the way I finished Ultra Despair Girls and it gave me a really good chapter idea- but you guys are gonna have to wait for that ;)</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Feelings Are Hard, Go Make Ramen</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The fourth trial is over. Everyone's burned out. How much longer can the killing game go on for? How much longer can Mondo pretend that he doesn't know what he's feeling?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey there, everyone! I just want to let you know up front that this chapter has a trigger warning for mentioned suicide in it! This takes place just after chapter 4!</p><p>Next week is gonna be CRAZY busy for me (rip), so I figured I should try to get this chapter out sooner rather than later! I hope you guys enjoy it ^-^</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mondo didn’t know which was worse- Aoi’s pitiful sobs before the trial or the deafening silence that fell over them all once it was over. He wanted to say something, do something, anything to fix the awful feeling of pure… unknowable SOMETHING that had washed over the group ever since Sakura’s death. </p><p>Sakura’s death. Whenever Mondo closed his eyes, she now joined him on the cast of horribly mutilated dead characters that flitted just behind his eyelids. When he and Makoto had worked together to break down the door blocking off entrance to the rec room, he had known in his heart of hearts- in the sick, dark place that whispered horrible things, the part that had killed people- that there would be a strong possibility that it was already too late to help their friend. But nobody wants to think about that before they know it for a fact, so the two of them had nearly demolished the solid oak frame while trying to get inside. Monokuma had informed them after the fact that they had technically broken one of the school rules (number twelve, breaking into locked rooms is forbidden) but since it had been Sakura herself who locked the door and not the headmaster himself he was willing to look the other way. </p><p>That’s right. Sakura had been the one who had locked the door. To be honest, Mondo was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that she had done this to herself. According to Makoto’s convoluted recap of the events leading to Sakura’s death, she had decided to take her own life by drinking poisons from the newly-uncovered that she had added to one of her signature protein shakes. Sakura Oogami, the strongest person alive, could only be beaten by herself. </p><p>This of course didn’t mean that nobody had gone unpunished for her death. It had turned out that Monokuma had known about Alter Ego for a while now and allowed them to cling to the small amount of hope that their smiling laptop friend had given them, only to take it all away from them in a strangely construction-themed execution. Mondo was desperately trying not to think about it. While the computer had been being crushed into nothing more than a bundle of spare parts, he had closed his eyes and looked away. He couldn’t watch Chihiro’s face lose all the color and joy and life again.</p><p>He’d go insane.</p><p>The elevator bringing them all back up to the first floor of the school dinged softly and opened its doors, allowing the seven remaining living students to finally free themselves of the fifth class trial and return to the “normalcy” of their daily lives. They all got off and looked at each other solemnly. Nobody wanted to be the one to break the somber silence. </p><p>They all blamed each other, and they all blamed themselves. Yasuhiro and Touko had each been convinced that they had killed her, for god’s sake. Makoto looked like he was on the verge of a total emotional breakdown, and Aoi was completely blank behind the eyes. Even those who didn’t typically show emotion looked like they were affected- Byakuya had taken off his glasses and was pinching the bridge of his nose, and Mondo could almost swear that he saw tears prick hotly at the corners of Kyoko’s eyes for a moment. The killing game was truly taking a toll on all of them. How much longer could this go on for? How much longer could they go on for?</p><p>One by one, they all slowly began to disperse. First, it was Kyoko, with Makoto hot on her heels. Those two looked like they had something that they wanted to discuss- Naegi had shot the purple-haired girl a strange look during the trial and it seemed that now he was going to follow up with her about it. <br/>Next was Togami, once again tailed by Fukawa. No surprise that he’d be the next one gone- it felt like he never spent any more time with his so-called classmates than he had to (he had heard him say something to Makoto once at the beginning of the game about “not getting attached to dogs that were about to be put down”).  And of course, wherever he went his dual-plaited companion followed. Their relationship simultaneously puzzled and sickened Mondo- was it some sort of fetish thing, or… Nevermind, actually, he didn’t want to think too hard about it.</p><p>The only three that remained were Aoi, Mondo, and Hiro. They stood together in the hallway for a moment before anyone said anything. </p><p>“C’mon, you two. We should get something to eat.” Hiro softly suggested, looking at Aoi with  a face of concern. </p><p>“That’s probably a good idea.” Mondo agreed, looking over at Hagakure. It was strange, Hiro taking an active role like that- he had always thought that the Clairvoyant was more of a passive fuckup who watched while things happened, not a nurturing fraternal type. In a way, it did make sense- the guy was what, five years older than them? He was sixteen, and so was Aoi probably… “How old are you, Hagakure?” The question came out before he knew what he was doing. </p><p>“Uhhhhh-” Hiro counted on his fingers real quick. “Twenty-thr- Wait, no, twenty. Why’d I say twenty-three?” He shook his head. “I’m twenty. Yeah.” They all started to slowly walk together towards the dining hall, Hiro and Mondo more or less carrying/dragging the still stone-faced Aoi along with them.</p><p>They sat her down at the large table in the middle of the room that they used to use for their morning meetings before the second trial, Aoi on one side, Mondo and Hiro on the other. Mondo really didn’t know how to keep this conversation going. </p><p>“Hey, do you guys like ramen? I can make ramen!” Hiro stood up after around five minutes had passed without anyone saying anything. “Ramen is uhhhhh, cheap, tasty, uhhhhhh, easy to make, did I mention that I know how to make it? Yeah, I can make ramen! That seems like a great idea, right?!” He gave a manic, stressed grin to Hina. “You like food! I can make food! That will make this situation totally normal and not weird at all anymore! Right? RIGHT!” He speedwalked to the kitchen in the back of the dining hall, clearly desperate to escape the conversation (or rather the lack thereof). </p><p>“Asahina…” Mondo took a deep breath. He knew he wasn’t much good at comforting people in times of duress- hell, last time he had tried to do that, the girl had killed herself a day later. But he knew he had to try. He was going to be open, he was going to be empathetic, and he was going to really try to be there for her. "Hina..." He exhaled and began to talk.</p><p>“You tried to kill us all.” God damn it, Mondo. </p><p>In response, the tears that Aoi had been trying so hard to keep quiet truly spilled forward. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m-” It seemed like that was all she could say. She buried her head in her hands, repeating her apologies through her sobs. </p><p>Yeah, ok, that had not gone as expected. Mondo ran a hand through his hair, not knowing how to comfort her any better than he already was- what would Sakura do if she was here? She knew Aoi better than anyone else. How would SHE make her feel better?</p><p>Mondo tentatively got up and walked over to her side of the table. He sat down in the seat next to her, took off his large jacket, and draped it across her shoulders. Hina clutched the gang leader emblem to her chest like it was a trauma blanket. In a sense, it sort of was. </p><p>“I- Mondo!” She wiped her face with the sleeves of the coat. “I thought- the letter I found- We killed her! We all deserve to suffer!” </p><p>“...We’ve suffered enough, Hina.” It took him a few tries before he was able to work up the courage, but once he did he gently wrapped his arms around her in a gentle hug. “We’ve suffered enough.”</p><p>“I loved her.” Her voice broke. “I loved Sakura. I loved her like I’ve never loved anyone else! I loved her, and now she’s gone!” She buried her head into Mondo’s chest, soaking his tank top with hot tears.</p><p>“I know.” He gently patted her on the back. “I… I know. I know how you feel.” The words left his mouth before he knew it. </p><p>“I loved him, too.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Something that I found kinda annoying about THH is that they had like *no hints* throughout the game that their memories had been wiped besides those photographs, so I have been "subtly" hinting at some locked memories...</p><p>Anyway!! I've been really enjoying the nice fall weather recently! I live in the eastern US, so the leaves change colors here- it's really pretty and it definitely makes this my favorite time of the year. I encourage all of you to go take a nice walk outside when you have some free time (but wear a mask)!</p><p>Thanks to everyone who left comments on the last chapter! I really like interacting with you guys- it makes it seem less like I'm just dumping these chapters out into the void, y'know? Please comment if you want to- I really appreciate every single one!</p><p>I really like writing Yasuhiro! He's a delightful fuckup/older brother/himbo and he's probably my favorite out of all the THH survivors. You're definitely gonna get more Hiro content, since he's so fun to goof around with! </p><p>Feel free to bother me on Tumblr! I post fanart and notifications for when this fic updates (and any other fics I'm writing)!</p><p>https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com</p><p>As always, thanks for reading!!! I love you guys &lt;3</p>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Midnight Visitor</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It's late at night, and Mondo is awoken by someone ringing his doorbell. Who could that be at this hour? And what on earth do they want?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I don't feel like this is one of my stronger chapters from a plot standpoint, but I found it really sweet and cute so I hope you guys do too! Sorry I've been gone for over a week- I told you that I was gonna be really busy :')</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>BZZZZZZ!</p><p>“Go away….” Mondo hid his head under the pillow. </p><p>BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!</p><p>“Ugggggggggggh-” He sat up in bed, rubbed his eyes with his palms, and took his surroundings in. His room was still dark, and the Monokuma announcement hadn’t gone off- was it still the middle of the night? Why was someone ringing his doorbell? <br/>He quickly threw on a tank top and a pair of pants over his underwear before heading to the door. He bothered to tuck his unstyled hair behind his ears so he could actually SEE whoever was trying to talk to him before turning the lights on and opening the door. </p><p>“Er... Hey there, Oowada.” Aoi stood there, her hands clenched tightly together around something she was holding to her chest.</p><p>Mondo was tempted to close the door in her face then and there, but he knew he’d feel like a total douchebag if he did so. The two of them hadn’t talked since earlier that day, when Mondo had inadvertently blurted out something that he’d been trying so desperately to keep under wraps- that he… well, he might have fallen in love with his dead best friend. God, it was like the plot of a shitty teenage movie that he would have made fun of in normal times. After he had said it, he had practically sprinted away and avoided Aoi (and Hiro, because he didn’t know whether or not the lanky bastard had heard him say it) for the rest of the night. And now here she was, at god knows what time in the morning, probably to make fun of him or call him a freak-</p><p>“Can… Can I come in? Please?” She asked softly, her eyes flitting from Mondo’s panicked face to the messy dorm room behind him.</p><p>“Why?” He narrowed his own eyes at her suspiciously.</p><p>“I brought you your jacket back.” She said, raising the object in her arms up a little. Mondo looked closer at it- she really did have his coat. He tried to grab for it, but she quickly stepped out of his reach. “I’ll only give it back to you if you talk to me, Mondo!” Her voice reached a fever pitch of desperation.</p><p>“Then keep the fucking thing.” He snarled. Really, how great of a loss could it be? All it was was a piece of heavy, decorated fabric that held nothing more than sad memories and whatever was in his pockets. What WAS even in there, anyway? A few loose yen, snack wrappers, and... Oh, shit. </p><p>Kiyotaka’s armband. </p><p>“Wait wait wait wait wait wait-” Mondo sputtered out and once more tried to take back his jacket, but Aoi had seen this coming.</p><p>“I already know it’s in there, Mondo. Have you really been keeping that in your pocket since…” She didn’t want to finish the sentence. “It’s been almost two weeks now. You don’t have to deal with this alone. Please, Mondo. Please. Don’t just suffer in silence!” There was a long pause before Aoi continued. “Kiyotaka wouldn’t want you to, you know.”</p><p>A brief flash of white-hot anger coursed through Mondo- Who did Aoi think she was, using Taka’s name to get what she wanted out of him? He was DEAD. How could Aoi know what he would have wanted? </p><p>As quickly as it came, the anger and hatred disappeared, only to be replaced with a deep sadness. She was right. He knew she was right. Kiyotaka had never exactly been someone who was afraid of telling or showing others how he felt (even if it meant that he could be teased relentlessly for “being a crybaby” by people like him and Leon). He had always been as open with Mondo as possible about everything, even stupid little things like what kind of music he preferred (classical) or why he didn’t put butter on his popcorn (it was “healthier that way” or something). Taka WOULD want him to talk to Aoi... and probably also to a therapist. He sighed and stepped aside to let Aoi into his room. </p><p>She smiled at him apprehensively before walking in and closing the door behind her. “So… You said you were, uh…” Aoi tried to gently broach the subject, hanging the coat up on the bathroom door’s doorknob before walking back over to Mondo.</p><p>“I didn’t mean it like that!” He snapped back, his face turning red. “I- I meant-”</p><p>“I’m not going to tell anyone. I... I feel like this is something that you’d want me to keep quiet.” She said softly, trying to calm Mondo down. The last person who had confronted the biker about his emotional life… well, they had turned up dead from massive head trauma, which was not something Aoi particularly wanted to have happen to her.</p><p>“Damn right this is something I want you to keep quiet! Do you think I want people thinking that I’m a- I’m A-”</p><p>“You’re a normal person?”</p><p>“That’s not normal! Falling in love with-”</p><p> </p><p>“So you are in love with him!” She interjected, and then clapped a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. That was… probably not the right thing to say...”</p><p>“OF COURSE I’M IN LOVE WITH HIM!” Mondo hadn’t even heard Aoi’s apology through his haze of feelings. ”He’s sweet, he’s smart, he’s selfless- he’s so fucking STUPIDLY selfless, and because of it HE’S FUCKING DEAD! HE’S DEAD, ASAHINA!” He had been barely holding back tears before, and now they sprang forth as if someone had turned on a faucet of sadness deep inside him. “He’s dead.” His voice broke. “I killed him.”</p><p>“You didn’t kill him, Mondo!” She gently led him to his unmade bed and helped him sit down, worrying that he might fall over from the sheer force of the emotions he was feeling. “You didn’t kill him.” She repeated, trying to hammer the point home. “He chose to do what he did himself. You couldn’t have stopped him even if you wanted to. I mean… Taka was nothing if not stubborn, right?” She smiled slightly, hoping that what she was doing was helping somewhat, and sat down next to him. “You probably knew that better than anyone.”</p><p>“You’re telling me.” He laughed a little through his tears. “What a total pain in my ass he was.” He sighed and looked up at the ceiling, trying to stop the tears from continuing to come forward. “I really miss him.” It was clear that he didn’t want to talk about this any more. Mondo was already embarrassed enough that he was crying in front of someone- he didn’t want to have it go any longer than it needed to.</p><p>Aoi picked up on the signal, and decided to change the subject. “Oh oh oh oh oh, did I ever tell you about the time a few weeks ago when Sakura and I raided the storeroom looking for sweets? And we ended up finding, like, a TON of condoms??? And I taught her how to make balloon animals with them?”</p><p>“Whaaaaa- For real? You gotta tell me!” Mondo wiped his face clean and turned to Aoi as she launched into her story. For the next few hours, the two of them regaled each other with stories of their lives, bonding over little things like having brothers, loving sweets and hating math. Mondo hadn’t even realized how early in the morning it was until Aoi had to stop talking mid-word to yawn.</p><p>“You should probably head back to your dorm and get some sleep.” He suggested.</p><p>“The morning announcement is gonna be in probably thirty minutes. Can I just stay here?” She flopped down onto one of the pillows and made herself comfortable.</p><p>“Sure, fine.” Mondo shrugged. He was over caring what anyone else thought anyway. Fukawa was definitely going to say that they had slept together, but he knew he could probably shut her up by threatening to break Togami over his knee like a piece of dry wood. He lay down on the other pillow, looking up at the ceiling.</p><p>“Thanks, Mondo. Thanks for letting me in. Thanks-” She yawned and turned away, falling asleep a little more with every word. “Thanks for being my friend.”</p><p>“Course.” He muttered back. Mondo closed his eyes too. He hadn’t even realized how tired he was too. It had been a while since he had spent such a long time just hanging out and talking with someone who treated him like a human being instead of like a monster.</p><p>It was nice to have a friend again.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading, you guys! I hope you liked it!</p><p>Mondo and Aoi are mlm and wlw solidarity and you literally CANNOT change my mind on this :)</p><p>Also, normalize snuggling with the homies. Important life skill right there.</p><p>If you liked (or hated) the chapter, please feel free to leave comments or kudos! I try my best to respond to every comment (as some of my veteran commenters know, haha).</p><p>Come bother me on Tumblr! It's the easiest place to reach me if you wanna chat or be friends.</p><p>https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com</p><p>I post pretty often, usually either fan art I've drawn, chapter updates or just random thoughts.</p><p>ANYWAY, I hope you guys have a good week! I love you and I'll talk to you all soon &lt;3</p>
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Exploding Bodies and Imploding Worlds</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A body has been discovered for the fifth time- but whose body is it? And more importantly, what secrets is it hiding?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Welcome to a pretty plot-heavy chapter! The one before this was felt really short and sweet (in my opinion) so I needed to make this one less character-based and more, y'know, pushing the story forwards. Regardless, I hope you still like it!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rationally, Mondo knew that things couldn’t be all happiness, sunshine and roses for very long. That was sort of the point of a killing game, wasn’t it? </p><p>But he would never, he COULD never get used to the pure dread he felt when the body discovery announcement played. He had been downstairs eating a healthy lunch of chips and donuts (Aoi had recently gotten him hooked on them in all their sugary, deep-fried goodness), but once Monokuma’s grating voice came through the monitors saying “A BODY HAS BEEN DISCOVERED!!” as it had done four times before, he nearly puked it all up. There were only seven of them left alive as it was- who could it be?</p><p>As he rushed up the stairs trying to find everyone, he found himself selfishly praying “Please not Aoi, Please not Aoi, Please not Aoi-” Of course, he didn’t want ANYONE to die. But in some deep, dark part of him, he wasn’t ready to lose another friend. He could deal somewhat with the deaths of people whose company he enjoyed like Naegi or even Hagakure- but Mondo honestly didn’t think he’d be able to handle it if he was left alone trapped in the school with just people like Fukawa or Kirigiri. Hell, he might genuinely lose his mind if he had to listen to Togami go “psssh-” and give snarky quips all day for the rest of his life.</p><p>He got to the fifth floor of the school- a location they had only really discovered a few days ago, after Sakura’s trial. It seemed that every single time that they unlocked a new part of the school, a corpse turned up there shortly afterwards. Perhaps they should have considered doing some sort of mandatory lockdown after every trial or something. They had already known that things were not as they seemed- that morning, Monokuma had apparently stopped working, prompting Hagakure to take the apparently COMPLETELY LOGICAL next step of dismantling the bear and seeing how he worked. They learned absolutely nothing except that their headmaster had a bomb in him, something they already knew from their first day at the academy, when Mondo had tried to break rule number 5 (violence against headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited). In response to the assault, Monokuma had simply destroyed that copy of himself and regenerated anew, proving to them that even if they “killed” the talking teddy their situation wouldn’t change.</p><p>The door to the garden area seemed to be ajar. Mondo rushed inside, only to find that-</p><p>Everyone... was seemingly ok. Makoto, Byakuya, Touko, Aoi, and Yasuhiro were all crowded around a strange object covered by a white lab coat. It took until Mondo got a little bit closer before he even recognized the object as a body. </p><p>“Don’t touch it.” Byakuya was talking to Makoto as Mondo walked closer. “I don’t trust anything that’s going on here, and I can’t have the only other competent person in this room getting into trouble.” </p><p>As Mondo joined the group crowding around the corpse of… whoever this was, several things became apparent. Firstly, there was a familiar-looking hunting knife buried in their (‘Should he actually say its? At what point does something stop being a person and start being an object?’, he thought to himself) sternum, which was probably not good. Secondly, their face was covered by a funky wrestling mask of sorts, making it impossible to tell who on earth this could possibly be. Was it Kyoko? She wasn’t here, but somehow Mondo felt that she of all people would be the least likely to wind up dead. She was… too smart for that. He made a mental note to talk to Makoto about the issue later. </p><p>While everyone was busily focused on trying to figure out what to do with the body, Touko was left unsupervised. As the current survivors of the Killing Game were about to learn, Touko SHOULD NOT be left unsupervised. In about forty seconds, she proved this by doing two things in rapid succession; First, she touched the cadaver. Next, she succeeded in getting blown about twenty-five feet backwards after it blew up with the same amount of force as getting hit with a semi truck. </p><p>“Fukawa!” Aoi yelped and rushed to the writer’s side to make sure she was alright, a genuine expression of concern on her face. </p><p>In the same breath, Byakuya exclaimed “The body!” and hurried to it to see what had happened. It somehow hadn’t been completely destroyed by the explosion, only mostly destroyed. All the evidence that they might have been able to glean from it, however, was likely now nothing more than charred ashes. Togami looked devastated.</p><p>After checking in with Aoi that both she and Touko were both as okay as they could be after what had just happened, Mondo quietly slipped out of the room. He knew what came next- the whole “investigation” part. He would only end up being in the way if he stayed in the room. Instead, he waited by the entrance of the dojo (he got a heavy feeling in his stomach every time he passed by it- he knew how much Sakura would have been overjoyed to have a place like this here while she had been alive), waiting for someone like Naegi to come and talk to him about ‘alibi” or whatever.</p><p>He spent about an hour and forty-five minutes wandering aimlessly around the fifth floor before getting frustrated. What could possibly be taking them so long? In all the investigations that had happened prior to this, someone had interrogated him long before this. Not that he was expecting world-class service or anything, but if he had access to his cell phone right about now he’d definitely rate the attention one star. Hell, he’d waited for shorter amounts of time to be harassed by whatever passed for law enforcement when he was in juvie.</p><p>Mondo was just about to go find Makoto and give him a piece of his mind when he heard a girl’s voice shriek from downstairs on the fourth floor. The same dread he had felt earlier began to crawl its way back up his throat- what could be happening? It’s not like there could be another body or something. That had never happened before. Regardless, he steeled himself for the worst before entering the data center. (Wasn’t this door locked before? No time to think about that now.) </p><p>Instantly, he had a few of his questions answered, but that feeling was negated by the overwhelming sense of confusion that also sprung up. Makoto and Byakuya were in here- which in turn explained why they hadn’t come around to ask him any questions- as was everyone else. Mondo felt slightly annoyed that everyone kept moving as a group without him, but he supposed he couldn’t blame them for that when he had purposefully gone off by himself to avoid having to help with the investigation. </p><p>The next thing that immediately caught his attention was the strange television that they were all gathered around. Hiro was on the ground with a remote rapidly trying to flip through the channels, but no matter what he did the screen showed the same image- the seven of them in the room staring at the TV. It wasn’t just a still image, either; When one of them moved, the motion was reflected in the monitor. It was a live-action broadcast of whatever they were doing, which begged the question- </p><p>“Who’s watching us?” Aoi said in a scared, shaky voice. </p><p>“I’m so glad you asked!” Someone behind them bellowed. They all turned to face the source of the noise, and were not particularly surprised to find that it was Monokuma. “You REALLY want to know who’s watching you? Honestly, I’m surprised it’s taken some of the more intelligent among you this long to figure it out!” </p><p>“J-just tell us already!” Touko replied, her hands balled up into frustrated fists.</p><p>“Geez, fine.” Monokuma’s face momentarily dropped before he lit back up again with a smile. “Everyone!” </p><p>“Everyone??” Hiro’s mouth dropped open. </p><p>“Yep, everyone!” Their headmaster rolled his eyes at their apparent stupidity. “This killing game is being broadcast live to the entire world. It’s the most popular thing on TV! I can’t believe that out of all the available classes that I could have gotten to teach, I got you group of total idiots. Oh well, no time for that now- I have a TV show to edit! Toodles!” With that, he pulled his classic disappearing trick, leaving the remaining survivors to wallow in their own emotions. </p><p>Mondo had dropped to his knees in shock. The whole world. This was being broadcast to THE WHOLE WORLD. Everyone knew his secret- what he had done to Daiya- what he had killed his friend trying to protect. Even if he managed to escape Hope’s Peak, his gang would probably kill him for what he had done to their previous leader. He had nothing to go back to. Everything… everything he had done, the people he had made suffer- all of it had been for nothing. For nothing at all.</p><p>How do you go on, knowing you have nothing left?</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm updating a little bit early since I had some free time today and decided to use it to write (instead of work on my college applications, which is what I SHOULD have done but SHHHHHHHHH)!</p><p>Aoi is so fun to write and I really want to expand on her friendship with Mondo, but I couldn't fit that into this chapter (I tried and had to delete it because it looked out of place with all the plot stuff).</p><p>I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you did (or if you didn't and want to yell at me), please feel free to leave comments or kudos below! I read every single comment and try my best to reply to all of them.</p><p>Follow me on Tumblr! (no pressure, I just like interacting with you guys)</p><p>https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com</p><p>I post funny garbage 90% of the time, make content 5% of the time, and the other 5% is gay nonsense.</p><p>As always, I hope you guys have a good weekend! Stay safe out there &lt;3 I care about you!!!</p>
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<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Skeleton Keys</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Makoto Naegi is a mystery, but it's not one Mondo has the time to solve. Kyoko made sure of that.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>HEY THERE!!! Before you read this chapter, go look at this AWESOME fan art of chapter one made by the super cool tgapa on Tumblr:</p><p>https://tgapa.tumblr.com/post/632599603313836032/as-he-thought-those-words-the-reality-of-the?is_liked_post=1</p><p>also go follow them:</p><p>https://tgapa.tumblr.com</p><p>(Is there a better way to post links? I actually don't know!)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mondo had spent the last 18 hours puzzling over the mystery of Makoto Naegi. On the surface, the guy didn’t even really seem that complicated, or that dangerous. He gave off the same sort of menacing vibes that a kitten wearing a sweater did. So could he REALLY be the malicious person who buried a knife in the chest of an unknown sixteenth classmate- Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Despair, who had apparently been lying in wait somewhere in the school or something like that (whatever Kyoko had been trying to tell him had completely gone over his head)- and then rigged up a bomb stolen from the corpse of a broken Monokuma to destroy the evidence? It just didn’t add up. Even his execution had been weird.</p><p>Of course, Mondo knew that he wasn’t exactly “the sharpest knife in the drawer”, as someone like Touko would semi-politely put it. He was more along the lines of “a half-evolved neanderthalic imbecile with seriously detrimental anger issues”, which was what Byakuya had called him when he had accidentally dropped a slice of toast laden with jam on the rich bastard’s freshly pressed coat just the other morning. However, what he lacked in book smarts, he more than made up for in his… uh, ‘people smarts’. Hopefully ‘people smarts’ was an actual thing, or else he’d probably have to agree with Togami about how useless he was, and God knows how little he wanted to let that smarmy motherfucker know that he was right about anything ever.</p><p>Regardless of that there was actually something to be said about his ability to read people. You don’t get to be the leader of the largest biker gang in the entire country of Japan without developing a few interdisciplinary verbal and non-verbal communication skills, a keen judgement of the character of others, and excellent persuasive and negotiation talents. (All the resume jargon aside, being able to punch things real good helped too.) Mondo prided himself on his way of knowing who could be a potential threat and who could be of use later down the line. Not once in the whole time that the fifteen (Was it actually more like sixteen? Did Mukuro count as a student too?) of them had been locked up together in Hope’s Peak did Mondo ever see Makoto as anything worse than a minor annoyance.</p><p>He had been sitting alone in the area outside of the A/V room mulling things over for a few hours when there was a sharp tap on his shoulder. He whirled around in surprise.</p><p>“You know, you really shouldn’t sit with your back exposed like that. You leave yourself vulnerable to a surprise attack from behind. We saw it happen with Yamada, and look where he is now.” Kyoko stood there, idly examining her black patent leather gloves.</p><p>“Jesus fucking christ, Kirigiri! You gave me a goddamn heart attack!”</p><p>“That was not the intention. My apologies.” She bowed her head a little in a form of sorry.</p><p>“What do you want?” Mondo narrowed his eyes at her with distrust. Knowing Kirigiri, she needed something from him. She didn’t really make a habit of just dropping by just to have an idle chat. </p><p>“I simply thought you might like to know that all of the dormitories on the first floor are now open and unlocked.” She gave him a slight smile.</p><p>“What? Are you telling me that I forgot to lock my door or something?” He frowned. “Do you think someone stole my shit?”</p><p>She pursed her lips, frustrated that he wasn’t getting it. “No, Oowada. Listen to me. ALL of the dormitories. Even the… unoccupied ones. You know. In case you ever wanted to see what some of your fellow classmates lived like.”</p><p>It took a few more moments until what she was saying clicked. “Including-”</p><p>“Yes, including that one. In fact, I did that one first. Can’t risk you getting caught by the headmaster again trying to break down doors, after all.” Without another word she walked off.</p><p>Mondo was too elated at the news to be annoyed at why Kyoko only ever spoke in riddles. Taka’s room was open; he could finish what he had started all those weeks ago and explore more about who his best friend/soul brother/massive crush really was. After all, everyone knows that the best way to get to know someone posthumously is to rudely rummage through their belongings, right? He headed down the hallway- making sure that he speedwalked, he wasn’t about to do something stupid like RUN- and confirmed that what Kyoko had told him was true. All of the doors to the dorms were all slightly ajar. </p><p>Kiyotaka had, at the beginning of their capture and confinement, spent hours complaining about why the dormitories weren’t alphabetized by either first or last name (although he had made a VERY long argument about why it should be last name). Mondo was admittedly rather glad that Taka hadn’t actually managed to convince anyone to do this- not that being next door to the seeping flesh wound that was Byakuya Togami was exactly a bed of roses, but the close proximity to the room of his best friend had made it pretty easy to plan times to hang out. He knew the door well, but had never learned what was on the other side. Finally, he was about to.</p><p>The first thing he noticed upon entry was the smell. It wasn’t a bad smell, per say- it was just extremely overwhelming. It was a mixture of ink, lemon-scented furniture cleaner, and boot polish. Everything in the room was clean enough to look like it had just been purchased, although again knowing Kiyotaka this made total sense. He had always prided himself so much on his outward appearance; Hell, he had cared enough to apparently steal (What? That didn’t make any sense whatsoever. Taka was the Ultimate Moral Compass and all that. He’d never steal anything!) an ironing board from the laundry room so that he could keep his uniforms neatly pressed. </p><p>Now that Mondo really thought about it, he’d never ever seen Kiyotaka wear literally anything else. Sure, the majority of the clothing that had been in the drawers of all the dormitories had been copies of the same clothes that they had woken up in, but there had been a few smatterings of random articles of clothing. Mondo had found a few pairs of jeans, a sweatshirt or two- clothes that he’d never wear into class or anything, but something that’d be nice to have for the weekends or something. Chihiro had also had a few pairs of jeans and a t-shirt or two (they had talked about workout clothes before they found the sweatsuits in the warehouse. Mondo doubted that Chihiro would be able to exercise for very long in a dress, so he wanted to know if they had any other clothing alternatives.). Would Taka have anything like that? He couldn’t even IMAGINE the prim and proper hall monitor in anything less formal than a sweater vest or a button-up. You know, office worker clothes. No, not office worker clothes. Taka would never work in an office. They were… Politician clothes. </p><p>Mondo shook his head and shuddered. God, he VERY much did not want to think about Kiyotaka and politics- Taka deserved to be remembered for something else, not his execution. How would Mondo feel if he had been the one killed instead, and all anyone remembered from him was just a small facet of his execution? Death wasn’t who Kiyotaka Ishimaru was. Being shot through the heart wasn’t who Taka was! Kiyotaka was smart and passionate and selfless and brave. Kiyotaka was awkward and overly emotional and anxious and neurotic. He wasn’t just one thing, and he wasn’t the other- that was what made him so special. Kiyotaka Ishimaru was a real human being, full of quirks and flaws. He had been more full of life than anyone else in this hellhole of a world, and all of it had been taken from him. He had taken it from him, and he- he-</p><p>-He was doing it again. Mondo knew that he was spiralling back down into the hole of anger and sadness that had driven him to nearly break down the door of the room he was standing in. This… this wasn’t helping him cope. In fact, it was probably the opposite. Sitting alone in Taka's room by himself... likely was some pretty self-destructive shit. Mondo checked the clock- it had been hours. HOURS. Hours of sitting here, wallowing in his own defeat and sadness. This wasn't helping! It was supposed to be helping! He had been trying to move on by doing this, and it wasn’t fucking working! Maybe... he didn't want to admit it, but he just wasn’t ready to move on. Maybe he just needed more time before he did something like this again.</p><p>Making sure not to actually close the door behind him (he didn’t want it to lock, after all), he headed back down the hallway. As he got closer and closer to the cafeteria, the lemon/ink/polish smell of Taka’s room was getting steadily more and more replaced by something else. Something gross. Something stagnant. Something rotting. Was that... trash? Confusedly, Mondo entered the cafeteria and saw something that he thought he’d never see again. </p><p>“Makoto??”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I can't actually believe I've written twelve chapters of this, lmao</p><p>This is the most I've ever written for any fan fiction ever ;-;</p><p>Happy Wednesday! We made it halfway through a shitty week in a shitty month in a shitty year, so just be proud that you've made it this far. You're doing great! Take care of yourself!!</p><p>Questions or things you wanna ask me? Please leave a comment below! I make sure to respond to every comment, and they always make my day. Kudos are also super appreciated (but no pressure!). I always feel bad asking for comments and kudos tbh... it be like that I guess</p><p>Follow me on Tumblr! It's the best way to keep in touch with me and what I'm up to!</p><p>https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com</p><p>As always, stay safe out there and take care of yourself! I care about you too! &lt;3</p><p>(P.S. I don't actually know if people even read the notes afterwards, but if you do I hope I don't sound like a total idiot. I'm not good at communicating lmao)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Final Discovery</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Makoto comes back from the dead so they can have one last class trial. Will they find the mastermind? Will they even have enough clues to do so?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry that I spent so long writing this chapter- school's been kicking my ass! </p><p>I pulled an all-nighter last night writing this, and I cleaned it up and polished it for posting today. Sorry if it's a little hard to follow lmao</p><p>I have an IRL friend who's newly getting into Danganronpa, so if you're reading this, hey there J-Dog!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After a long group hug (followed with promises of taking long showers by everyone later, including Touko- Byakuya made her), Makoto explained what had happened to him.</p><p>“It was crazy! I really thought I was going t-to totally DIE!” His eyes were wide with fear as he recounted his story. “I think what happened was that Alter Ego still exists enough in the system somewhere- Oh yeah, I forgot, Kyoko and I tried to upload them to the Hope’s Peak network, guess it worked- and they stopped the, uh, execution thingy from killing me. It just dumped me into some gross trash pit instead. Kyoko came and got me out! We had to climb up a ladder for HOURS! Jeez, Kirigiri, I really owe you one.”</p><p>“You would have done the same for me.” Kyoko simply shrugged, tucking a slightly garbage stained lock of purple hair behind her ear. “Besides, that’s not what’s important right now.”</p><p>“What do you mean?” Mondo raised an eyebrow. “We got something else to do after this?”</p><p>“Actually, yes.” She turned to him, her face dead serious. “We need to reopen the case of the death of Mukuro Ikusaba. If Makoto didn’t kill her, then who did?”</p><p>“Do w-we really need to do THAT again?” Touko wrung her hands together in fear. “Can’t we just move on?”</p><p>“Unfortunately not.” Kyoko responded. “If Makoto didn’t kill her but still got blamed for it, that means that it wasn’t any of us. If it really had been, then they would have “graduated”, correct? That leaves only one person that could have killed Ikusaba.”</p><p>“At the risk of sounding like a total idiot-” Yasuhiro began to say, but was interrupted by Byakuya.</p><p>“No need to take the risk, you already consistently do. Let me guess, you don’t know who the person is?” He idly examined his fingernails for invisible specks of dirt, trying not to let any emotion whatsoever show on his face.</p><p>“Hey! Don’t be so mean to him, Togami.” Aoi crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. “Not everyone’s Ultimate Talent is being a know-it-all.”</p><p>“Well, let me just inform the crowd of <em>les imbéciles totaux</em>, then.” A smirk crossed Byakuya’s face as he pushed up his glasses with his index finger.</p><p>Mondo didn’t speak French, but he had a pretty good idea of the sentiment Togami was trying to convey to them. If this conversation had been happening in any other context, he would have probably threatened to dropkick the annoying little blonde trust fund baby into the sun. However, he admittedly DID need the heir’s help trying to figure out exactly what was going on.</p><p>“The only person who could have killed Mukuro Ikusaba- the only person here who could have possibly done it and gotten away with it-” Here, Byakuya paused for dramatic effect. “-the only person it could be is the Mastermind. We find the killer, we find the Mastermind. We find the Mastermind, we end this game once and for all.”</p><p>A hushed silence fell over the group once more. Ending the killing game? Could they really do it? Mondo obviously couldn’t read minds, but he had gotten the sense that some of the survivors had become complacent in their roles in what was happening. I mean, someone like Yasuhiro wasn’t exactly an apex predator- he was honestly going along with the flow and adapting to their new circumstances. Had someone like that, who was simply surviving off of pure dumb luck, thought that they would actually make it out alive? Was someone like that even willing to try to?</p><p>The seven students stared at each other. This was it. The final hour. They had all been through so much life-changing trauma together- murders, executions, love, loss, and death. Oh god, there had been more death than anyone should have to deal with in a lifetime, let alone an emotionally unstable teenager in a timespan of a few weeks. Not a single one of the seven who were left alive would ever be the same people that they used to be. Nobody would ever be the same again.</p><p>One by one, they each peeled off from the group to go try and collect some sort of evidence to prepare themselves for whatever sort of ultimate (no pun intended) showdown they were going to have with the Mastermind. Not quite knowing where else to go, Mondo headed back up the last area they had all uncovered- the top floor- to try and see if there had been anything up there that nobody had found yet. Of course, with people like Makoto and Kyoko around, the odds of that were incredibly unlikely, but it never hurt to check.</p><p>It was when he was poking around the cherry blossom-filled dojo that it happened. Monokuma, among all of his other eccentricities, was incredibly fond of making dramatic entrances. So it honestly didn’t surprise Mondo as much as it should have when the small teddy bear swung down from a rafter in the ceiling, did a backflip, and perfectly stuck the landing right in front of his feet.</p><p>“Taaa-DAAA!” The pint-sized headmaster finished the gesture with a deep bow. “Thank you, thank you. I already know how impressive I am, no need to remind me.”</p><p>“What do YOU want?” He glared down at him.</p><p>“Me?” The teddy brought a small paw to his face in mock surprise. “Why, I just thought I’d stop by to give you a small gift!”</p><p>“No thanks. Offense meant, but I don’t trust you at ALL.” Mondo turned away, rolling his eyes. “Get off my ass, bear.”</p><p>“Well now that’s just rude!” Monokuma screeched. “Here I am, working my little tail off to find evidence for you guys, and you deny me! Why, I should gut you on the spot for that!”</p><p>“Then do it.” He stared down into Monokuma’s creepy eyes. “Kill me. Go on.” A small smirk spread across his face as he watched the glorified toy process what he had said.</p><p>“...It’s no fun when you call my bluff, you know...” Brushing a few petals off his fur, Monokuma dejectedly slunk back out of the room, leaving a small piece of paper behind him.</p><p>Mondo knew that he shouldn’t reasonably trust anything that Monokuma had touched, but pure curiosity was much too strong of a force to resist. He grabbed the paper- which upon closer inspection, was actually a photograph- and examined it. What he found made his eyes widen in pure shock.</p><p>Inside the photograph were his 15 classmates, all participating in what appeared to be some sort of school festival together. Probably a halloween festival, based on how they were dressed. Aoi was some sort of mermaid, Hifumi appeared to be some... pink cherub thing(???), and Leon was fittingly a lion. There was even that Mukuro Ikusaba girl up in the top dressed as Princess Daisy chatting with a Princess Peach that kind of looked like Junko, who was unfortunately blocked from sight by Ikusaba’s prop parasol. He scanned through the photo as fast as he could, trying to find any evidence of himself in there. There’s no way that everyone had lied to him. They couldn’t have all known each other before this, could they? This had to be a lie!</p><p>Just when he was starting to panic that he had been played for a fool the entire time, he found the only thing that could have taken some of his building suspicion away; Kiyotaka Ishimaru. He was in the bottom left corner of the photo giving Celestia a piggyback ride. They had apparently gone with some sort of couples costume together. They were both wearing similar-looking gothic vampire outfits, complete with matching pointed fangs that they were showing off to the camera with wide smiles. The costumes definitely suited the two of them with their matching porcelain skin, ruby eyes, and jet-black hair. (Now that Mondo really thought about it, this was also the first time that he’d ever seen Taka wearing anything other than his school uniform, too.) So the whole class had celebrated Halloween together? When? And since when were Kiyotaka and Celestia even FRIENDS? He could only ever remember her making snide comments at him. They probably hadn’t even really had a full conversation with each other.</p><p>There’s also no way that Celestia and Kiyotaka would have gone as an actual couple- the amount of times she had repeatedly told Hifumi that she was a raging lesbian debunked that theory pretty nicely- but then that only left two options. Option one was that the photo was faked, but some deep and nagging part of him refused to believe it. The second option was that everyone had been lying to him from the very start. They had all known each other before the killing game had even started. They were all pretending to be strangers to keep him in the dark. They were all teaming up against him.</p><p>As soon as that thought entered his head, he actually laughed a little. He knew that he was an emotional guy who occasionally did rash things on impulse without fully thinking them through first (oh god, he could still feel Chihiro’s blood on his HANDS-), but he wasn’t stupid. If they had all been working together against him, then… Why did Kiyotaka choose to die? If you’re all working as a team against a guy, you don’t then throw your life away in some sort of suicidal kamikaze attack. It just didn’t make sense.</p><p>So if the photo wasn’t faked, and everyone wasn’t working against him, then what in the name of God was going on here?</p><p>Before he had any more time to think about it, a sound that he had become far too familiar with sounded all throughout the school.</p><p>*<strong><em>Ding Dong, Bing Bong!</em></strong>*</p><p>There was no turning back now. It was time for the final class trial. It was time to get to the bottom of this, no matter what it took.</p><p>This was for everyone who hadn’t made it along the way. This was for Leon, Celestia and Sayaka. This was for Chihiro and Sakura. This was for Mukuro and Hifumi.</p><p>This was for Kiyotaka.</p><p>...Man's promise.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I've been so totally blown away with the amount of support that I've been receiving for this series!! Between comments, kudos, and the love I've been getting from my Tumblr, all the kindness has made me get all emotional and happy. Again, thank you so much for reading and interacting with this fic- I couldn't have done it without you!!! &lt;3</p><p>Feel free to leave comments on this chapter! I do my best to respond to every single one. It's the least I can do for you guys being so nice to me!!</p><p>The rough draft of this chapter had a full description of the photo with what everyone's costumes were, but I felt like that bogged down the plot too much. Would anyone be interested in that? I could rewrite it and post it on my Tumblr if anyone's curious, lmao</p><p>Speaking of my Tumblr, go follow me! It's the best way of keeping in touch with what I'm up to and for getting updates as to when I post new chapters.</p><p>https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com</p><p>Funny coincidence that I'm posting chapter 13 just before Halloween, right? If I were the superstitious sort I'd be freaked out. </p><p>Anyway!!! Have a safe and happy holiday, and take care of yourselves!! Stay home, stay safe!! I care about you &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Sometimes, The Truth is Worse than a Lie</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This is it- the final trial. The seven survivors go up against the Mastermind of the killing game they've all made it through. What secrets will they uncover? Will they even make it out alive? (Probably. I'm assuming that you've all watched/played/read Trigger Happy Havoc, so...)</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey there, everyone.</p><p>Things kinda suck right now, huh? As I'm writing this, the winner of the 2020 presidential election hasn't released yet.</p><p>I haven't been able to really do anything but watch the results as they roll in. I figured that a few of you are likely in the same boat. Hopefully this extra-long update makes things a little better, at least.</p><p>Hang in there, you guys. Stay safe. Take breaks. I care about you.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When your best friend is (was?) the Ultimate Moral Compass, you really start to re-evaluate a lot of your concepts on “right” and “wrong”. Kiyotaka had gone off on a long tangent a few days before he died about how nothing ever has just one side to it, and how no matter how complex the situation was, it needed to be examined from all angles before you could make a judgement about what was going on. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With all due respect to the memory of Kiyotaka Ishimaru, that was complete bullshit.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mondo knew within seconds of looking into the eyes of Junko Enoshima- the REAL Junko Enoshima- that she was pure evil and malice. There was no other side to her. There was no hidden good deep beneath the surface. She existed to create misery and despair, and she was damned good at it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So you’ve found me out! Congratulations, Naegi and crew!” She brought her fists up to her chin and pulled a cutesy face. “So what’s next, huh? Whatcha gonna do now, huh? Gonna torture me? Gonna beat me up? Ooooo, do you wanna punch me??”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t be ridiculous.” Byakuya rolled his eyes. “I’d never sully my hands with the likes of you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I might, though-” Touko whispered under her breath. “-I could probably go so far as to KILL her and feel nothing.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Aw, but you can’t kill me!” Junko reverted to more of a “hot-teacher” kind of pose, pulling a pair of glasses out of her pocket and putting them on to complete the look. Mondo shook his head in utter awe and disbelief- was this chick literally balls to the walls insane? Had Junko really brought props to the class trial?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why not?” Aoi clenched her teeth together in sheer anger. “What’s stopping me from going over there and killing you like how you killed our friends?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, to be fair, <em>I</em> didn’t kill your friends!” Enoshima examined her long red nails idly. “They all made that choice themselves when they stabbed, impaled, bludgeoned, poisoned, and sacrificed themselves. Like IDIOTS.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask something. How did you know what was going to happen before it happened?” Makoto took the bait that Junko was so clearly trying to lay in front of them by dragging up the painful memories of their deceased friends. “Like, how did you know that Leon would kill someone? Or that Celestia would? Were you just lucky or something?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know, I like me a man who takes interest in the behind-the-scenes work that goes into running a killing game! Lemme drop some facts on you, Makoto- can I call you Makoto? I feel like we’re close enough for that now. Anyway, Makoto, do you know that your pathetic group wasn’t the only class passing through Hope’s Peak? There are some other Ultimate students out there with VERY helpful talents. So I got my good buddy and personal punching bag the Ultimate Mechanic to build me fourteen separate themed executions, one for each of you! I didn’t need one for me, because DUH, and I didn’t need one for ol’ Muksy either, since I was already planning on offing her by that point.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So as soon as you watched a crime get committed on the cameras, you prepped the execution for the perpetrator? What would have happened if we had lost the class trial?” Makoto pressed the issue a little further, ignoring the fact that his worst enemy had now decided that they were on a first-name basis.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It would have been BORING if it had only been themed executions for the killers, dummy! Nah, I also had poor Souda build fourteen themed classwide executions for the rest of you just in case somebody graduated! Like for example if Miss Asahina had killed someone and gotten away with it, the remaining dummies who couldn’t figure it out were gonna have a really cool Olympics-themed death! Isn’t that awesome?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In response, Makoto just kind of looked pale and broke eye contact with Junko. He kind of looked like he was about to throw up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Drop it, Naegi. This is pointless.” Kyoko tucked her hair behind her ear and interjected before anyone could engage Junko in further discussion. “She’s just toying with us, you guys. Tell us why we can’t leave. The real reason.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...Dammit! Honestly, this is why I’d been hoping that you’d be killed off long before now. You’re boooooooring, Kirigiri! Sis, you literally just found your father’s BONES a few hours ago, and instead of having a total breakdown like I’d hoped, you’re just trucking onwards like nothing even happened. Ugh!!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, she’s avoiding the question!” Hiro stopped freaking out for just long enough to yell at Junko.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You already know the real reason that you can’t leave the school, sillies!” She cooed at them in Monokuma’s voice. “Now, let’s see if any of you genius Ultimates can figure it out- the despair that lies behind the hope!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But none of us can REMEMBER!” Aoi snapped at Junko again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I forgot about that!” Junko said with a wide smile. “Or rather, I didn’t, but I just REALLY needed one of you to give me a dramatic opening to show you this video- the video with the secret to the outside world!” She pulled a remote control out from between her cleavage and hit play, all of the televisions in the room suddenly blaring to life.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It showed scenes of a world Mondo didn’t understand- one filled with people wearing Monokuma heads killing each other, one where all of the world’s monuments were defaced with the visage of their cartoony headmaster, one where everything that was good and happy and kind was replaced with the horrors of war and the carnage of hatred.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Touko tried to look away once she saw someone’s skull get caved in with a crowbar, but the damage had already been done. “Oh… blood…. So much blood…” She fainted</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Oh shit, we REALLY don’t need this right now!” Hiro pulled at his dreadlocks. “Togami, DO something!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, no, just let it happen.” Kyoko said. “They don’t share memories, right? Maybe Syo will be able to tell us something.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, somebody needs my help?” The horrible representation of dissociative identity disorder woke up from her spot on Touko’s podium and stretched. “That’s not something that happens very often! Do I gotta kill something?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, thank you. We just need you to watch this video. Does it look familiar?” Kirigiri pointed to the screens.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That? Oh yeah, the Tragedy! Man, good times. Why are we talking about that right now?” Syo scratched her head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’ve known about this the entire time and never said anything???” Makoto’s jaw dropped in disbelief. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nobody asked!” The serial killer merely shrugged at him. “It happened like a year ago or something.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait, so the world ENDED?” Aoi clapped her hands to her mouth in shock. “What about our families?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ooooh, this is a FUN question!” Junko perked up instantly. “Well, I can promise almost all of you that at least one person or animal or bug that you considered to be family is still alive. Your closest non-Hope’s Peak relationship.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Almost all of us? The fuck does that mean?” Mondo finally chimed in. His head was reeling- everything was happening so fast, and he had no idea how to process any of what was happening. Custom executions? The Tragedy? What in the name of God had the world come to?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yep! All of you except one Byakuya Togami!” She shot a pair of happy finger guns at the astonished heir.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You mean-” He stared at her with a decidedly un-Togami like expression of horror and nausea. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Every single surviving member of the Togami clan? Well, let’s just say that they’re not surviving any longer! Congratulations, Byakky! Has anyone ever given you a nickname before? I feel like you’d make a really good Byakky. I think I’ll call you that from now on. I’ve gotten sidetracked Point is, you’re the only living Togami left! The Togamis haaaaave FALLEN!” Junko ended this devastating little tirade with jazz hands. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How did you kill off every single living Togami in a matter of weeks, Enoshima? They’re wealthy enough to have scattered far and wide. It seems deeply improbable.” Kyoko asked, a furrow of worry finally creeping into her brow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Miss Defective- oops, I mean Detective- went ahead and figured it out, huh?” Junko rolled her baby-blue eyes. “Boring, boring, boring.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...It hasn’t been weeks since we entered Hope’s Peak? What do you mean by-” Makoto started to ask a question, but his eyes widened once he figured out the answer himself mid-sentence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nope. Actually, it’s been more like… hmm, lemme count… two whole years?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You erased two years of our lives?” Hiro covered his eyes with his hands. “NO! No, no, no! I refuse to believe it! I’m THAT old, and I STILL haven’t graduated high school yet???”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not just two years of your life- all of your Hope’s Peak memories! Man, you guys really missed out, huh? You’ve forgotten all the quintessential high school experiences! Dances, first dates, classes, festivals- everything! Sucks to suck, doesn’t it?” Junko was grinning like a cat with a mouse trapped under its paw. She had them right where she wanted them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wh- Hggh-” Mondo looked down at his hands. Two whole years of his life? He was eighteen? And he couldn’t remember ANY of it?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course, the technology I used wasn’t perfect. Even though your brains had forgotten all the MEMORIES, your hearts or whatever remembered the bonds that you had made, blah blah blah. You all still somehow stayed friends with the people you had known the closest- or should I say most intimately, wink wink nudge nudge- during your school time. Aoi and Sakura, Leon and Sayaka, even Touko and Byakky. So I guess it shouldn’t have been such a huge shock to me as it was when the glorified teacher’s pet offed himself for his dumb boyfriend, huh?” Junko’s attention suddenly flitted to Mondo.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What the fuck are you talking about?” He cracked his knuckles. Calling him dumb was one thing, but insulting Kiyotaka? He was dead. He couldn’t exactly defend himself. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Wait what the fuck did Junko say? Taka? BOYFRIEND?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mondo’s eyes widened, and his face flushed bright red. “Hhhhh- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah! Sickeningly sweet. You followed him around like a puppy dog, dude. If I remember correctly, Fujisaki’s the one who set you up on a blind date after a while. Little programmer was tired of watching you pine for him. You were his first kiss, did you know that? You were also his first-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Something whizzed through the air and barely missed hitting Junko in the head. “SHUT UP!” Aoi had thrown her silver hair clip at the Mastermind. “JUST SHUT UP! MONDO DOESN’T NEED TO HEAR THAT, FREAK!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, you want your turn? I could talk about you and your girlfriend for a pretty long time too. Your first date was a picnic in the park. She spent the entire day trying to make donuts that looked like pool floaties- even got the Ultimate Chef to try and help out. It was super cute! Too bad it couldn’t last forever... “ Junko sighed dramatically.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Me… me and Sakura?” Aoi started to cry again. “Sakura??”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What did we do this all for? We killed each other? We killed our friends?” Hiro looked pretty close to joining her in tears.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mondo took a last glance around the room. Everyone was in varying states of shock except Junko, who looked like she had just won the lottery.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But none of that’s important right now! We have to get the final part of every class trial- the vote, remember?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The vote. Voting. Voting for what? It didn’t matter. None of it mattered. Everyone was dead. His gang. His friends. His teachers. Chihiro. Kiyotaka. Daiya. What was there left for him? In the background, he vaguely heard Junko say something about sacrificing Makoto and allowing the rest of them to live their lives in the school with her. Who cared? That didn’t matter. Nothing mattered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>More conversation happened. Mondo wasn’t listening. Mondo didn’t care. Mondo just wanted to hit whatever button would get him out of this trial the fastest. He was ready to vote, he didn’t care about despair, he didn’t care about- </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hope.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Mondo. Can you hear me?” Makoto’s soft voice broke through the buzzing noise that currently filled his head. “I know you’ve heard this a lot, but I think I need to tell you again. This isn’t what Kiyotaka would want, man. He believed in you. He believed in you until his dying breath. And right now, I think you need to believe in him just as much. Let’s get out of here together. Let’s make Ishimaru’s life worth it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...Tch. You’re right.” Mondo shook his head. “What the hell am I thinking? Running away from a fight? I’m no coward. I think it’ll be alright if I hit a girl... just this once.” He gave Makoto a weak smile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He snapped to his senses and hit the right lever.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Despair- found guilty of everything.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s punishment time!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Watching her execution was different than watching the three that had come before it. Instead of the dread and horror that had filled the students prior, this one was more of just relief. It was over. They had done it. They had won. The killing game, and all the death that it brought with it, had been defeated.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was only one more death to go, and the seven of them were about to witness it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Junko was pelted by baseballs, forced to wave endlessly to an invisible audience while dodging bullets, burned alive at the stake, crushed by a bulldozer- her manic grin grew wider and wider until the climax to the execution finally came in the form of a giant and horrible hydraulic press, the kind that had almost killed Makoto a day ago.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She waved happily at her ex-classmates all the way up until the very end. Junko Enoshima finally gave them all a winning smile befitting of her job as a supermodel and posed cutely with a Monokuma plushie until the press dropped onto her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was a sickening crunch-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And then it was all over.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope you guys liked the fun lil bombshell I dropped here! :) I am a nice person I swear I just like angst and shit</p><p>This isn't the end of The Blackened just yet! While this fic does have a definitive ending, we haven't reached that right now. It's just the end of the "Hope's Peak killing game" part of the fic.</p><p>I... didn't do any of my homework today and just finished this chapter instead. I hope that it helps some of you work through today/this week/this month/this year. (I should probably go do my homework tho lmao)</p><p>Please feel free to leave comments or kudos! I love responding to people and hearing your thoughts.</p><p>Follow me on tumblr! It's the best way to stay in touch with what I'm up to, as well as learn when new chapters have been posted and see behind the scenes content.</p><p>https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com</p><p>And in case any of you were interested in reading some of said behind the scenes content, and missed it when I uploaded it yesterday;</p><p>https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com/post/633725372592209921/the-halloween-festival-photo</p><p>Please take care of yourselves! Go to bed at a reasonable hour, take breaks from looking at screens, DRINK WATER!! </p><p>(P.S. I've been thinking about this a little bit recently- would you guys be interested if I made a Discord server for this fanfiction? I really like interacting with you guys, but I just worry it'd be a little too vain of me lmao. Please leave your thoughts in the comments!)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Midnight Tears and Fireside Apologies</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>For everything that Byakuya Togami knows how to do, there are many more that he doesn't- like camp... or cry... or apologize.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Another week, another update! I'm sorry if this one isn't as good as last week's- I almost had to go on hiatus because of my personal life, so I barely actually got this out in time. I'm trying my best, the world is just a lot right now...</p><p>Oh by the way, IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: The Blackened has a Discord server now!! Here's the link:</p><p>https://discord.gg/jF6pJHt4MN</p><p>I'm not online all the time, but I'm pretty active! We only have about three or four people but it's super cool :D</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first night outside of Hope’s Peak was the hardest.</p><p>None of them outside of Mondo had ever really had much experience sleeping outdoors, and Byakuya was completely useless at most camping-related things.</p><p>“No, you idiot, hold the rope THIS WAY!” Aoi rolled her eyes at the heir for what felt like the millionth time as he clumsily tried to ‘help’ them. </p><p>“I don’t understand why you’re making me do this.” He snidely remarked back. “I’m Byakuya Togami. Do you even understand what that name means, you-” He stopped talking immediately as Aoi reared back her hand to slap him again. “Alright, alright, heard. Jesus.”</p><p>Eventually, they were finally able to pitch together something that roughly resembled a tent out of the bedsheets that they had grabbed from the dormitories. Sadly, it was only big enough for roughly half of them- Mondo had volunteered for all of the boys to sleep outside, but Kyoko had shot that plan down pretty quickly. </p><p>“Wouldn’t it make more sense if we simply took turns? Like a rotating shift? We should likely have someone keeping watch anyways.” Kirigiri nodded. Making plans was definitely the area in which she shined the most- her analytical and calm mind truly came in handy.</p><p>In the end, they divided into teams of two to keep watch- there was only one complication.</p><p>“I refuse to be on a “team”, as you call it, with Fukawa.” Byakuya insisted. “I’d rather spend another night in the damn Academy.” </p><p>Mondo had to try extremely hard to keep his blood from boiling. Just exactly WHO the FUCK did Togami think he WAS? He wasn’t rich anymore. He could hardly be even called an Ultimate- you can’t exactly be the Ultimate Affluent Progeny when you’re neither affluent nor a progeny. All he was just another nobody like everyone else, and here he was trying to get special privileges. “Why, you-”</p><p>“I think that’s perfectly reasonable.” Kyoko cut in before Mondo could properly curse the entitled blonde out. “Alright. First shift goes to Oowada, Togami, and Asahina. As for the rest of us…” She looked back at the makeshift shelter they had prepared. “Fukawa, Naegi, and Hagakure- you’re sleeping with me.” </p><p>“I bet you’d like me to sleep with you, wouldn’t you? Leather gloves and all, you’re probably into some kinky stuff.” Touko muttered under her breath. Kyoko acted like she hadn’t heard, which was probably for the best.</p><p>The night dragged on. After a “refreshing” meal of cold rations for dinner, the group planning on sleeping first retired to the uncomfortable arrangements that they had set up for themselves and one by one fell asleep.</p><p>Mondo, Aoi, and Byakuya kept on tending the fire. Byakuya in particular was incredibly on edge- every little noise made him jump, and he kept clinging to the elbow of his suit coat like he was scared that his bones might fly out if he wasn’t careful. Aoi and Mondo mostly ignored him, making small talk amongst themselves about how good it was to be outside for the first time in literal YEARS- but all of a sudden, something happened that nobody could have possibly seen coming.</p><p>Byakuya Togami, the Ultimate Affluent Progeny, the heir to the Togami Corporation, the man who had made their lives so much more difficult for the whole time they had been trapped in the school from hell;</p><p>He started to cry.</p><p>Byakuya took off his glasses, buried his head into his hands, and wept like a child.</p><p>At first, neither Hina nor Mondo knew what to do. The two of them stared at him wordlessly for what felt like an eternity, neither of them daring to interrupt. Just when it seemed like the world might snap if what was happening went on for a minute longer, it stopped.</p><p>Mondo looked over across the fire to see Aoi with her arms wrapped around Togami in a tight hug. Tears streamed down her face in solidarity.</p><p>“I know. I know.” She whispered to him. “I’m so sorry, Togami.”</p><p>“D-don’t call me that.” He managed to choke out.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Togami. Please. Please, please, please. Please. I’m not a Togami. Just… Not for tonight. Please.”</p><p>“I don’t know what you’re trying to say, man.” Mondo moved closer to the two of them to try and help.</p><p>“Do you know what I had to do to become the almighty Byakuya Togami? Do you? I had to fight my own half-siblings for my father’s love. All fourteen of them. Do you know what I had to DO to get on top? I had to do things most people should never have to in their entire LIVES, all before the age of TEN.”</p><p>Once again, neither of them knew exactly what to say. Mondo and Aoi had both come from lower-middle-class backgrounds. The biker couldn’t speak for Hina, but he had always assumed that with that sort of “fuck-you” amount of money came the solution to all of life’s problems- what on earth was Togam- er, Byakuya, talking about?</p><p>“I’ve never had any friends to call my own. There was never any time. As soon as I was transferred the title of heir, my life became nothing but day trading, stocks, bonds, and business. The closest person in my life is my damned butler, Aloysius Pennyworth. And now I learn that for the first time in my miserable fucking life, I haven’t been alone?” He looked up at the two of them with tearful blue eyes. “And I don’t even remember it?”</p><p>Mondo had no clue what to say. He had never considered the fact that the high and mighty boy, who had always looked like he thought everyone else was so much more below him- </p><p>He was lonely?</p><p>Mondo slowly took off his biker jacket and carefully draped it around Byakuya’s shoulders. He had never been any good at comforting people, but hey, the jacket had always made him feel better. It was a security blanket of sorts, he supposed. </p><p>Byakuya clung to the jacket like it was the only thing keeping him anchored to the planet. “I had friends. Scratch that- YOU were my friends. All of you were. And I’ve done nothing but…” He trailed off. “I’ve been horrible to you.”</p><p>In response, Mondo punched him in the shoulder. Hard.<br/>“AHH-” Byakuya cried out in genuine shock and pain. “What the hell? What was that for?”</p><p>“That was for what you did to Chihiro.” Oowada said sharply. Togami might be in a bad place, but he could never forget walking in and seeing the horrible acts that Byakuya had disrespected Fujisaki's body with.</p><p>The ex-heir didn’t really even have a witty comeback for that one. He took a deep breath and prepared to do something else that he never thought he’d do- tell the truth. “I… I only did that because I was scared, alright?”</p><p>“Scared?” Aoi raised an eyebrow skeptically.</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Byakuya took a deep breath and looked around in fear. “I know you all think it’s hilarious and all, but Fukawa is quite literally OBSESSED with me. And when I found out about what she’s done- can you not blame me? I have no desire to be found dead nailed to a wall with scissors!”</p><p>“But stringing up Chihiro like an OBJECT? Defiling their corpse?” Now even Aoi was getting mad at the upset man.</p><p>“I…” He closed his eyes, and the tears came again. “It was the only way I could get you all to listen. If I had just said outright that “Hey, Touko Fukawa is a serial killer hell-bent on marrying me”, would you have listened?”</p><p>“Er… probably not…” Her shoulders sagged in shame.</p><p>“I was painted into a corner. And you-” He gestured to Mondo. “Your mistake gave me a way out. But-” He paused for a minute. “I’m sorry. Truly. From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry.” His voice cracked with emotion, sounding more like the teenage boy he really was than the grown man he had been pretending to be.</p><p>Mondo didn’t respond. He didn’t need to. What would he even say?</p><p>The three of them stared deep into the heart of the flickering fire noiselessly, praying it would fix what was wrong with them. </p><p>Was there even any way to fix how broken they had all become? Could they?</p><p>Only time would tell.</p><p>But on that cold, hard first night… they truly started to.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Byakuya Togami redemption arc? From MY multidimensionalcon?? It's more likely than you might think...</p><p>Follow me on tumblr! It's the easiest way to get in touch with me and see when I update my writings.</p><p>https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com/</p><p>I don't really have anything else to say- I'm exhausted LMAO but i hope you enjoy this chapter!! Please feel free to leave comments and kudos, I love hearing from you guys :D</p><p>I love you!! Take care of yourselves &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Second Return</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The survivors have run out of rations. What lengths will they go to in order to eat? Will the return to the one place they swore to leave behind forever?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I have an IRL friend who's desperately trying to find my ao3 account... for my sake, I hope they don't.</p><p>Happy Wednesday, everyone!  It's freezing out now, brrr! Stay toasty :D</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next few weeks all passed roughly the same- up until the point they completely ran out of rations.</p><p>Makoto’s stomach, surprisingly enough, was actually the one that started REALLY growling first- Mondo had bet Byakuya (who had sworn him and Aoi to secrecy about the events that had unfolded that night a few weeks ago by the campfire) first dibs on the whatever they eventually did manage to find that it would have been Touko who would succumb to the hunger quickest. (Of course, Hina might like donuts and food in general much more than the average person, but she was definitely not a complainer and would likely bottle up any hunger she was feeling for the sake of group morale.)</p><p>“...Hey, you guys?”</p><p>“Yeah, ‘Koto?” Hina was leaning her head on his shoulder, and turned her face up to look at the Ultimate Lucky Student.</p><p>“I hate to be that guy, but…” He paused here, fiddling with the zipper on his now-more-than-slightly-oversized hoodie. “I’m really, really, really hungry. Like, I’m starving.”</p><p>“Oh thank god, someone else finally said it!” Yasuhiro leaned forward and stared at Makoto with an intense look in his eyes. “Dude, my stomach is literally EATING ITSELF ALIVE!”</p><p>“While I think the two of you might be being slightly dramatic, I must admit that I myself have also been feeling the adverse effects of hunger myself.” Byakuya adjusted his disheveled tie. “While we’re complaining, I would also very much like to wash my clothes. I have not changed my undergarments in three days, because I have run out of clean pairs.” </p><p>“So what do we do?” Touko bit her thumb in frustration. “W-we can’t just sit here and waste away! I’m too thin as is!” </p><p>“Isn’t it obvious what we have to do?” Kyoko finally chimed in.</p><p>“Well, clearly not!” Aoi rolled her eyes. “If it was obvious, we already would have done it!”</p><p>The implication of Kyoko’s words dawned on Mondo, and he shuddered. “No... I hear you loud and clear, Kirigiri. But do you really think it’ll work?”</p><p>“What? D-do you two lovebirds have some sort of secret code that we don’t know a-about now?” Touko frowned. “I didn’t even think you swung that way, Oowa- OW!!”</p><p>Whatever vaguely offensive remark she was about to make was suddenly cut short by Togami ‘accidentally’ grinding the toe of his patent leather shoes into Fukawa’s own shiny pumps. </p><p>“Oops. Didn’t see your foot there.” He shrugged in his own mock-apologetic way.</p><p>“S-sorry! I didn’t mean to get in your way!” Touko yelped and brought her knees up tight to her chest, rearranging her position so that none of her limbs could possibly offend anyone anymore.</p><p>“Just don’t do it again.” Byakuya shot her a cold glare before turning back to both Mondo and the conversation at hand. “You were saying something, Oowada? Continue.”</p><p>“Wasn’t really all that important, but alright.” Mondo was more than embarrassed at the fact that he had to have had BYAKUYA TOGAMI of all people to stick up for him. What, was he fragile now all of a sudden? He was still 168 pounds (probably a little less now, actually- a lack of food will do that to a guy) of pure ass-kicking badassery! “All I was gonna say was that Kyoko’s right. If we wanna get more food, we gotta go back there.” He turned around and pointed far off into the distance at the horrible place that they had all sworn never to go back to. “We gotta go to Hope’s Peak Academy.”</p><p>The trek back to Hope’s Peak felt the same way that Mondo had always imagined a man condemned to death would feel while walking to the gallows. Why would anyone in their right mind EVER willingly return to a place they had oh-so-narrowly escaped dying inside of barely a month beforehand? </p><p>However, what Kyoko had said earlier was true. The Academy had had enough non-perishables kept stored in the warehouse to feed the seven of them for all eternity, plus the power had even stayed on. The fridges and washing machines should still work perfectly fine. </p><p>Mondo also definitely wouldn’t mind the chance to go back to his dorm and pack up his belongings; they hadn’t really taken anything much with them when they had been freed after the sixth trial. Hell, he had even forgotten to grab his hair products, meaning that by day three in the post-apocalyptic wilderness his signature pompadour had crumbled. He had taken to letting Touko plait his longer bleached front hair part into a french braid connecting to his black mullet- anything to keep the troublesome hair out of his eyes. Aoi had laughed until she cried when she first saw Mondo with his hair done up like that, but by this point even she had to admit that under the circumstances they were living with concepts like vanity had to go more or less out the window.</p><p>“Alright, does everyone know what they need?” Makoto was nervously looking around the entry hall, making sure that they weren’t all about to pass out again. “I want us to be in and out of here as fast as possible, PLEASE.”</p><p>“Don’t worry, Naegi!” Yasuhiro good-naturedly placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder and gave him a wide smile. “My predictions are telling me that everything’s gonna be 100% ok. What could possibly go wrong?” </p><p>“Ooooooooooooooo don’t say that-” Touko tugged on her pigtail braids, but it was too late. The words had already left Hiro’s mouth, which definitely meant that some dramatic irony shenanigans were about to ensue.</p><p>The first place Mondo visited on his trip back to school was the warehouse to grab a duffel bag to throw his things in (pointedly making an effort to avoid the section with workout gear). He then moved back to the dorms, happily noting that all of the rooms were still unlocked. The first one he stopped in was his own, of course- he needed to grab his clothes and the Crazy Diamonds flags he had left behind. The Diamonds might not exist anymore in any traditional sense, but gang loyalty still ran deep in his veins. There was no way on God’s green earth that Mondo was going to let these flags rot in this hellish place.</p><p>It took a while to actually make everything FIT in one small duffel bag, but once he managed it he made his way to his second stop- Sakura’s room. Mondo stopped for a second at her door. He needed to say something that he probably should have said a while ago.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Oogami. I wish things had been different. Y’know… when we went to school together, I bet we were friends. Good friends. I hope… I hope that wherever you are, you’re happy. You did a good job, you know? You saved us.” Mondo exhaled deeply and turned to leave again. “Say hi to Taka for me, please.”</p><p>“Is that him?” Came a sharp whisper from his left. </p><p>Mondo whirled around on his heel and squinted into the light, but he didn’t see anyone. “Hello? Someone there?”</p><p>“Aw, you interrupted the sweet little moment he was having!” Came a second voice from roughly the same place.</p><p>“Holy shit, this school is haunted as FUCK-” Panic began to beat its way up into Mondo’s throat. They were alone in this building, right? RIGHT?</p><p>“You idiots.” Came a third voice. “You don’t even know if that’s the right guy.”</p><p> </p><p>“Of course it’s the right guy! You told us to be on the lookout for a buff dude with dumb hair!”</p><p>“I don’t have dumb hair…” Mondo self-consciously raised a hand to his braid before remembering the situation he was in. </p><p>“You do have dumb hair.” A man in a dark suit who he had never seen before stepped out from the door to Celeste’s room. “Hello, Oowada-san.” </p><p>“Who the HELL ARE YOU?” Mondo quickly registered this as the owner of the third voice, but that still didn’t clear anything up at all. Even the politeness of the use of honorifics didn’t help make the situation any less weird; If anything, it made it even creepier!</p><p>“Well, the fact that you DON’T know who I am is probably better than if you did.” The man paused. “Oowada-san, have you ever heard of an organization called Future Foundation?”</p><p>“Future Founda- excuse me, WHAT?” Mondo frowned. “I’m sorry, but I think you’ve got the wrong guy.” He started to break out in a sprint to get away from this crazy businessman(?) freak, but he was interrupted first. </p><p> </p><p>“Bad move, Oowada-san.”</p><p>And then the world went dark.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>OOOO, Con ends the chapter on a cliffhanger??? I haven't done THAT in a little while!</p><p>Come join our discord server! There's a lot of cool people :0</p><p>https://discord.gg/jF6pJHt4MN</p><p>Also, follow me on tumblr! You've heard my spiel before lmao</p><p>https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com/</p><p>As always, have a wonderful week and take care of yourselves! I love you &lt;3 </p><p>(P.S. What noise does a cowboy clown make? Yeehonk. )</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Bad First Impressions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After being knocked out by some people who claimed to be part of some sort of "Future Foundation", Mondo finds himself in a tricky situation. Will he find his friends again?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm SO SO SO sorry that this is a day late!! I had this whole thing written out and ready to go yesterday, i just,,, FORGOT to upload it, oops.</p><p>I hope you at least enjoy this chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When Mondo woke up from his forced slumber, he was alone in an empty room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hhhhhhmmmph-” He struggled up to his knees. He hadn’t been tied up- that was a (possibly) good sign, at least. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ok, maybe it wasn’t totally EMPTY in here. The room was markedly scarce, but hey- at least the lights were on. There were only a few things in it, namely a cot, a wardrobe, and one of those old-fashioned bed pans in the corner. He shuddered a little. Gross. Hopefully he'd have answers to whatever was going on before he had to resort to actually using that nasty thing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello?” Came a girl's voice from behind the wall. Aoi’s voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hina!!” Mondo scrambled to his feet and rushed to the back of the room. “Are you all right?” For a second all of his common sense completely left his body and he had to suppress his basic instinct to put a fist through the barrier separating him and the people he cared about. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m ok!” She responded. Just the sound of her talking was enough for Mondo to be able to take a deep breath. Going insane and punching the shit out of some drywall might have been a good stress-management tool back when he was just a normal shithead teenager, but it wasn’t exactly what anyone could call “healthy” or “sustainable”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you sure? Is there anyone in there with you?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, Fukawa. She’s out cold still though. They gave her some sort of… injection or whatever when they grabbed the two of us. Something about not wanting her to “sic the scissor chick on their asses”, which I can only assume means Touko’s alter self.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm.” Mondo thought for a second. Why had they allowed Touko and Aoi to remain together, but separated away Kyoko? Was she with someone else? Why was HE alone?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait, Mondo- Hold on a second!” There was a prolonged moment of shuffling noises coming from the other room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Aoi?? The hell’s going on over there?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Silence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ASAHINA!” He began to revert to an earlier state of panic.</span>
  <span></span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ch-chill out, motor mouth.” Came a new voice from the other side of the wall. Touko this time. “Heh, motor mouth. Get it? Because you r-ride motorcycles?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cut the shit, Fukawa. Is Aoi ok?” Mondo had no patience for Touko and her weird insistence on insulting everyone before actually having a normal conversation with them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, she’s fine.” Mondo could just HEAR Fukawa rolling her eyes on the other side of the wall. “Why d-don’t you ever ask about ME? I was just unconscious for, like, forever, and all you care about is the swimming girl! Ugh.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’s going on over there? Please. Just tell me.” He was really regretting that his Ultimate Talent wasn’t something that would be useful in this situation, such as Ultimate X-Ray Vision. That had to be a thing, right?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sh-she’s talking to Conspiracy Nut and Captain Hope on the other side of the wall.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It took Mondo a second to translate from Touko-to-Japanese exactly what that meant. “Wait, Hagakure and Naegi are on the other side of the other wall for you?”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s what I just s-said, isn’t it? Wait... do you h-hear that?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The conversation was interrupted at this point by a set of high-heeled shoes clacking their way down the hallway toward their rooms and/or cells. Mondo peeled away from the wall and rushed to the back of the room, desperately looking around for something- anything- that he might be able to use as a weapon against whatever was coming. No such luck- he couldn’t find a thing. He balled his hands into fists, hoped for the best, and prepared for the worst.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The door jiggled once, then twice, then three times, before slowly swinging open.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh thank goodness, you’re awake.” Kyoko rushed over to him and checked him for any visible wounds before stepping back. “I was worried they’d have drugged you as well.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How the hell’d you get outta one of these rooms?” He stood there, mouth agape. Kyoko was the last person that he had expected would come through the doors, but yet… here she was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, for starters, I was never placed in one to begin with.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, what?” What the hell was going on here? Did this mean that Kyoko hadn’t been imprisoned like the rest of them? “...You’re not WORKING with whoever fuckin’ put us here, are you?” His brow furrowed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?” She gave him an indignant look. “I would have thought that after the shared experience that the seven of us just went through you’d at least have some amount of trust or faith in our friendship.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sure, I’d like to think that too, but I don’t think i need to remind you that we all trusted Enoshima when we went to school with her. Look where that got us- the damn apocalypse!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kyoko didn’t really have a retort for that one. “I’ll be frank with you. When they came to find me, instead of fighting back or crying like the rest of you did, I reasoned with them. Had a conversation. They thus assumed I was the group’s leader, and took me to go confer with THEIR leader. A simple diplomatic process.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Diplomatic process, my ass! We just escaped from a damn KILLING GAME, Kirigiri! We watched our friends- people we cared about, people we loved- we watched them die!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t you think I <em>KNOW THAT</em>, Oowada?” She snapped back at him before taking a shaky inhale to attempt to steady herself. “I... I never really knew my father. He left when I was just a little kid. I had only ever heard the stories my grandfather told about his son, the man who spurned his dreams and became a principal of a high school for gifted children rather than go into the highly esteemed family business of detective work. I needed to- I needed to talk to him, all right? I needed to look him in the eyes and ask him-” She had to shut her own eyes at this point to keep tears from coming. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mondo, for his part, had actually not known any of this. He had always just assumed that Kyoko had just popped out of the womb completely confident and sure of herself. He had had no idea whatsoever that lurking behind those purple eyes were her own issues and insecurities, and to be completely honest... he felt like a total tool for making her upset. “Shit, Kirigiri… I, uh. I genuinely… I knew about your dad, of course, but, uh…” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Save it for later. We don’t have time for this right now.” She rubbed her eyes quickly with the base of her gloved palms before reaching over and grabbing Mondo’s hand. “There’s a very serious situation that I need your help with.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You need MY help? Are you sure about that?” He raised an eyebrow, but allowed her to drag him over to where she wanted him to go. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That turned out to be down a long, winding hallway that seemed to be a part of an abandoned office building. Kyoko pulled him along with her down the hallway and into an empty conference room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So what’s the situation?” Mondo finally asked. He had just been following Kyoko for long enough, now it was time to really get answers from her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’ll understand soon enough.” She pointed to a door on the far wall of the room that Mondo could only guess likely lead to another adjoining conference room. “Just open that door and you’ll fully grasp exactly what we’re dealing with here.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At those bone-chillingly vague words, Mondo was not at all prepared to “fully grasp exactly what we’re dealing with here”, but he had to try to regardless. He walked over and opened the door. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even after opening the door, his brain still couldn’t fully comprehend exactly what his eyes were looking at.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>On one side of the room sat an overweight blond man with a white suit, a green bolo tie, and a sour expression. On the other side of the room, there was another blond man (this time markedly thinner, however) with a dark suit but yet still the same sour expression. They both turned to look at Mondo and Kirigiri as they entered the room, and simultaneously began to complain about the circumstances they were in using the annoying disaffected-rich-guy speak that they had grown so used to in their time at Hope’s Peak. There was absolutely no mistaking it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There were <em>two</em> Byakuya Togamis.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oh HELL yes! It's Remnants of Despair time, starting with everyone's favorite guy, Twogami! </p><p>Again, I'm really sorry that I didn't upload last week (I had Thanksgiving-related commitments) and that this chapter is a day late. I hope that the beginning of a new story arc is worth it, at least.</p><p>Questions? Comments? Please feel free to comment down below! I do my best to respond to every comment, and they all make my day!</p><p>Follow me on Tumblr! It's the best way to stay up-to-date about updates on this fic and to get into contact with me!</p><p>https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com/</p><p>As well, join our Discord server! There's a super cool and incredibly group of people in there talking about DR, drawing art, and writing fanfiction! </p><p>https://discord.gg/jF6pJHt4MN</p><p>Thank you all for reading! I appreciate every single one of you so much. Take care of yourselves, and stay safe out there! &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Byak-Attack</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Two Togamis? How will they tell who the real one is? And even more pressing, WHY are there two of them?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey there! After taking an extended hiatus, I've decided that sticking to a schedule was really not good for my mental health or my writing. From now on, I'm only going to write and publish chapters when I feel like it. That's what I did for this chapter, and honestly I think it came out a lot better than a lot of the other chapters that I just kinda forced out in order to make a self-imposed deadline. Thanks for being understanding!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The twin Togamis (Twingamis? Twogamis? Mondo made a mental note to workshop a funny nickname for the two of them later.) glared at each other with the hatred and intensity of a thousand burning suns.</p><p>“Oowada.” The one in the white suit glowered at him. “Tell these people to let me out of this room! I have much more important things to be doing with my time than chasing around this… fake heir over here.”</p><p>“FAKE? FAKE HEIR?” Dark-Suited Togami sputtered out. “More like fake HAIR! Look at that ridiculous blonde toupee you’ve got on! There’s no way it’s anything but a wig!” </p><p>“Go on. Tug it.” Togami Two (Twogami, Mondo had FINALLY decided) offered his head forward to Kirigiri. “You’ll feel that it’s nothing if not real.” </p><p>Kyoko looked at Mondo and shrugged. “Might as well if it’ll get this over with.” She reached a gloved hand forward and pulled on the hair- hard, Mondo noticed, wincing slightly at how she really made sure to twist as she tugged.</p><p>She frowned. “It’s real, all right. This doesn’t narrow it down at all.” Her expression was that of someone deep in thought, her fists jammed deep into her leather jacket. “Oowada, can we speak out in the hallway? In… PRIVATE?” She said, casting the duplicate heirs a knowing look. </p><p>“Sure.” Kyoko was smarter than anyone else Mondo knew. She’d likely have figured this out, right? He followed her out into the hallway, and waited with baited breath for her to explain to him what was going on. </p><p>“I have no idea what’s going on.” Her frown grew deeper. </p><p>Well, dammit. “Are you sure? You have nothing at ALL to go off of here?” </p><p>She pulled her left hand out of her pocket and uncurled it to reveal a few strands of light yellow hair. “Only these. I snagged them when I was testing the authenticity. Here, take one.” </p><p>“...Gross.” He snorted, but obeyed. Kyoko had that sort of an effect on people, after all. </p><p>“Do you notice anything odd about it?” Kyoko said, holding hers up to the light.</p><p>Mondo didn’t even need to do that. As soon as he examined it, he recognized what was going on- it was the same crispy texture as his old pompadour, after all. “The hair’s been bleached. And recently, too.” </p><p>“It’s not that I think that our Togami is a natural blond, but I do assume he has the good sense and disposable income to use nice enough products in his hair to not damage it the way that this hair’s been damaged.” She nodded in agreement.  “I’m going to go get the others. Maybe one of those five will have some light to shed on the situation. You watch the… uh… the Togamis, okay?” As she was known to do, she left to go do her thing before actually waiting around to hear an answer.</p><p>Mondo figured that she’d be back soon, and re-entered the conference room/makeshift prison. </p><p>“So can I please get something to eat?” White-Suited Togami asked. He had said please and been polite and all, but there was no kindness behind his words. “I’m starving to death here.” </p><p>“Uh…” Mondo checked his pockets. Old cigarettes, a pen, tire pressure gauge… there. “I got some gum if ya want any?”</p><p>“Oh, that would be delightful.” He reached out and took one, unwrapping it carefully before popping it in his mouth.</p><p>“How ‘bout you, other Togami?” He offered, well, the other one. The dark-suited Togami. This was getting more confusing with every passing second.</p><p>His nose crinkled a tad, but reached out a shaking, well-manicured hand. “If HE’S partaking, I believe I have to as well.” </p><p>“You don’t got to.” Mondo shrugged. More gum for him, after all. He put away the pack. </p><p>“It’s HAVE to.” Both Togamis said in unison, rolling their eyes. </p><p>“Whatever.” The three of them sat together in angry silence while they waited for what seemed like ages before Kyoko came back. She finally returned with Aoi and Makoto in tow. </p><p>“Hagakure and Fukawa should be on their way soon. He decided to stay behind and wait for her. Leaving anyone alone, especially her, probably isn’t the greatest idea.” Naegi said. </p><p>“She was kind of scared to leave the room that we were shut in, y’know? I think the exact phrase she used was “out of the frying pan, into the fire”!” Aoi explained with more than a touch of laughter. “Me, I’m just happy that I don’t have to stay in that stuffy little room with her for too much longer.” </p><p>“Great, you left the two complete ditzes alone. Might as well have left loose a bull in a damn china shop.” Dark-Suit sighed. </p><p>Aoi and Makoto finally looked over at the strange scene unfolding in the room. </p><p>“Are there… two… Togamis?” Makoto scratched his head in confusion. </p><p>“No, Naegi. I’m just moving back and forth so rapidly that you think there’s more than one of me.” White-Suit said dryly back to a sheepish-looking Makoto. “Yes, there’s two of us! A real one, and a fake! An imposter!” </p><p>“Yes, you’ve said that.” Dark-Suit said through gritted teeth. “Have you no better arguments here?”</p><p>Mondo went back to tuning out the argument, praying that they’d soon go back to glowering at each other in blissful silence. No such luck- they just kept going at each other in circles, accusing the other of trying to steal the moniker of “Byakuya Togami”. He made desperate eye contact with Aoi, trying to get her to come up with some way to get them out of this. </p><p>Aoi caught his glance, and looked back to the fighting twins. “What if we ask them a question that only the real Togami would know?” </p><p>Dark-Suit’s ears (metaphorically) perked up. “Go on. I’d be more than happy to prove my legitimacy.” <br/>Makoto smiled. It seemed that he had a brilliant plan here to truly suss out which one was which. “What-” He paused. “-Is the name of the largest stock exchange in all of Japan?”</p><p>Dark-Suit slapped a palm to his forehead as he said “The Tokyo Stock Exchange, you idiot!” at the same time that White-Suit did. </p><p>“...Naegi, even I knew that.” Aoi frowned at him. “And I’m NOT a world-famous business heir.”</p><p>“Oh... sorry…” He turned an awkward shade of red, clearly sheepish. “Guess it makes sense that it’d be in the capital, huh?”</p><p>“So we’re back at square one.” Kyoko was clearly growing impatient with this whole ordeal.</p><p>“Not to fear, Hiro’s here!” Hagakure threw the door open, holding Touko’s hand to drag her along. “I didn’t get lost, AND I managed to grab Fukawa while I was at it!” He grinned proudly.</p><p>“Oh, TWO Togamis?” Touko’s jaw dropped, just like everyone else's had upon first sight. “This is… This is… AWFUL!” She tugged on her hair. “I can’t have anyone else merely pretending to be him! It simply isn’t the same!” </p><p>Dark-Suit raised his hand. “I have changed my mind. I no longer want to be Byakuya Togami. This man-” He jerked his thumb in the direction of White-Suit. “-Can have her.” </p><p>“Really?” White-Suit’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Just like that? Alright.” </p><p>In response, Dark-Suit merely shrugged, saying nothing.</p><p>Touko rushed over to White-Suit, her arms wide open for a hug. White-Suit opened his own arms wide and hugged her back, drawing her in close. She sniffed reflexively, as if she was about to cry from sheer joy.</p><p>But that didn’t happen. Instead, her eyes widened. “...You’re not Byakuya.” She shoved him harshly away from her, rushing to Dark-Suit (the REAL Byakuya Togami)’s side instead. “WHO ARE YOU??” </p><p>“I suppose the jig is up then, hm?” the mysterious person sighed. “I never knew Miss Enoshima’s memory wipes would be THIS good. You really don’t remember me? A former classmate?”</p><p>“A former classmate?” Kyoko’s fists were in a fighting stance, clearly ready for whatever Mystery Person was going to throw at the seven of them. “So you’re…”</p><p>“An Ultimate, yes.” They sounded more bored than anything. “Is this despair? The despair of loss?” They frowned. “Miss Enoshima always made it sound so much more exciting.” </p><p>“Cut to the chase, fuckass.” Mondo growled. “Who the fuck are you? WHAT the fuck are you? And how do you know Junko?”</p><p>“Just as there are- oops, I mean were-” They giggled. “-sixteen of you, so there were sixteen of us. You’re class 78, correct?”</p><p>“Ok, well, that actually answers none of my questions.” Mondo grumbled, but was cut off by Kyoko. </p><p>“You’re part of class 77, then. The class above us.” She stated. </p><p>“77-b, to be precise. We were too large… had to be split up into two groups. No clue what happened to most of 77-a.” They removed their fake glasses. “I don’t have a name. Not one that matters, anyway. Call me the Ultimate Imposter.” </p><p>“Where’s the rest of 77-b?” She asked one last time, a frantic energy present in her voice. </p><p>“Ah, you know nothing, huh?” Imposter laughed back in her face, a manic swirl growing ever larger in their eyes. “Out serving our mistress Miss Junko, of course! Spreading her despair far and wide!”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>It feels really nice to get back into the swing of writing things again! I missed you guys, haha. A couple of my friends who I know from outside of Danganronpa found my tumblr/ao3 account, but quite honestly I enjoy writing this enough that I've surpassed the human emotion of shame. If you're reading this: Hi Robin! Hi Viv! &lt;3 Love ya!</p><p>Fun fact: I almost named the chapter "Byak-Off", but "Byak-Attack" rhyming and all won out. Lil' behind the scenes for ya.</p><p>(Note: I've never actually watched the D3 anime and I only really know the basics, so none of this is canon or based on canon. Sorry about that!)</p><p>Questions? Comments? Please feel free to comment down below! I do my best to respond to every comment, and they all make my day!</p><p>Follow me on Tumblr! It's the best way to stay up-to-date about updates on this fic and to get into contact with me!</p><p>https://multidimensionalcon.tumblr.com/</p><p>As well, join our Discord server! There's a super cool and incredibly group of people in there talking about DR, drawing art, and writing fanfiction! </p><p>https://discord.gg/jF6pJHt4MN</p><p>Stay safe out there, and wear a mask!</p>
        </blockquote><div class="children module" id="children">
  <b class="heading">Works inspired by this one:</b>
  <ul>
    <li>
        <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27252979">To Know My Own Emotions</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Otaku/pseuds/I_Otaku">I_Otaku</a>
    </li>
  </ul>
</div></div></div>
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